Crushing Krisis

Category Archives: relief

New demos for a new album(!)

Monday, June 1, 2009

Sometime before autumn arrives I will begin to record my first full-length, multi-tracked, studio album since 2001’s Relief.

Wow. I knew that was true, but it’s pretty monumental to see it in print.

In 2001 I had 117 songs to choose from and two weeks of studio time to record and mix in Drexel’s tiny, single-room, analog recording studio. (They’ve vastly improved their resources since then.)

In 2009 I have 241 songs to choose from and an unlimited amount of studio time to record and mix in my own tiny, single-room, digital recording studio. (I’ve also vastly improved my resources since then.)

Of my 241 songs, 30 of them are in fierce competition for 13ish spots on the album. There’s also the other 211 songs, many of which are long overdue a fresh recording even though I’m not considering them for the album (and, maybe I would consider them if I had a fresh recording to listen to).

So, I’m planning to record live, single-take demos for each of my 30 top picks for the album, accompanying each one with a B-side from the other 211 songs. I’m sure I’ll toss a few covers in as well.

If I record a demo every day this month I’ll be ready to record my album by July! And, although that sounds implausible to me (and you) at the moment, CK reminds me that on three separate occasions I recorded 24 songs in less than a single week, and once I actually recorded 30 songs in a single month.

No matter how long it takes, it’ll be a chance for me (and you) to hear 60 of my songs in crisp, multi-tracked audio – and that should be enough new stuff to hold us over through however interminably long it takes me to record an actual album in my present state of dotage.

Also filed in college, recording | | Comments (0)

Friday, January 4, 2002

Blogging is not a daily column. I don’t even have to post everyday, as one of my readers just reminded me as i lamented my headache-induced writer’s block. I don’t have to post every day because i’m only posting for me… i’m putting up the effort, and the editing, and the $30 a month that keeps my website functional as my bank account gets inexorably smaller and smaller.

Are you starting to see where those other posts were headed? I am tired… tired of having to learn all of the foundations that lay beneath the successful artifice of art, and having to be responsible for them all on my own. I am tired of spending endless hours programming my site and weeks in the studio just for a paltry 100 copies of my demo and a thousand readers a week. I am tired just at the thought of having to create a new layout or having to mix down another demo. I don’t want to do it. I just want to play, and to write, and to have an amount of attention paid to me that has some relation to the effort that i put into my work and the quality that emerges. Even double the readers, or five times the listeners, probably wouldn’t be enough for me … because even after my in front of the scenes work is paid adequate attention i’m still stuck behind the scenes like the Wizard behind the damned curtain, sweating away as he produces such a spectacular show.

I don’t think this means anything… i’m obviously not quitting or going away. I’m just so tired… tired of having to spend a year on music courses so i could have a key to the studio that i hate, and tired of earning A’s in programming just so i can properly sort out the PHP i program the site with. Tired of having to beg to be a mere assistant stage manager when we all know i’d rather be in front of any curtain, anywhere. I just… i don’t know how i’m supposed to be heard at all, otherwise. Maybe you could call it paying my dues, or maybe it’s just my own particular burden (and not such a bad one, at that), but the charm is wearing off … what was once exciting is now my dread of quarter inch to eighth inch cable adapters, and my absolute dread of photoshop, and my remorse over spending half of my education learning how to make what i want to do work, instead of doing what i want to do.

Conclusion? Who knows… either one step closer to sending out demos, or one closer to subway busking. Two steps forward, two steps back, same old me.

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Friday, January 4, 2002

I’m going somewhere. I am.

I am nothing but frustrated thinking about my 2002 demo. I am a faithful student of the Ani DiFranco school when it comes to songwriting, and that means that when i have enough songs to track an album i have to start actually tracking the album. Of course, for me (and Ani), this tends to result in having a surplus of songs once i get to recording them, but that just makes the selection on the record stronger.

I am not frustrated because i’m going to have to leave songs that i like off of the album, though. I am frustrated by the thought of recording. I do not want to go through a repeat of last year… locking myself sweating and cursing into the studio for an entire week of claustrophobia and flubbed starts and sweating and hunger. It isn’t fun. The whole act of keeping my wires straight and making sure i have all my volume knobs right and setting up the compressor totally drains me, and all i am left with is the urge to get down some solo performances as fast as i can. It doesn’t make me want to play any more music than i have to play.

Having developed a downright fear of the studio (which i (lamentably) have to enter eventually if i ever want to hear the single i recorded this summer), i am suddenly interested in making other plans. Plan A is to set up my home computer with a new sound card and buy a microphone and just do the whole thing in my room; i could work on it at any hour, and make endless edits and and overdubs. I like the idea… it seems like the way that excellent playful records are made, and i’m sure i would wind up with much stronger material if i got the chance to take more than a handful of shots at each song.

On the other hand, i don’t even want to worry that much… i want to just give up my power and send out some three song demos to record labels both small and large and wind up signed with a producer who can worry about what tone the bass need to complement the acoustic guitar and what side it should be mixed to. Of course, that goes against everything … against my possessiveness of my songs and against all of the independent music i listen to. However, there comes a point where i am tired of trying to be heard all on my own, and i just want someone to be able to listen to me… and sometimes the easiest road to that isn’t sitting in my room recording Trios.

Also filed in ani difranco, mom | | Comments (0)

Wednesday, January 2, 2002

The trend in weblogs for ringing in the New Year seems to be a dead split between resolutions that might not be upheld and a litany of excellent things about 2001 that never came to light through the actual process of blogging. So, in the spirit of my general disagreeance and spitefulness this past weekend, here are the reasons why my year sucked (in roughly chronological order):

My grandmother dies; i proceed to get so sick that i miss the funeral (never to be forgiven by family). (!)

I have to drop a class for the first time. (!)

The weekend of my dress rehearsals for Good Woman of Setzuan i am diagnosed with Pneumonia and Bronchitis. I have to argue not to be admitted to the hospital so i can start going to rehearsals again. Upon my return I forget an entire verse of my big song on opening night (at this point being generally attributed to my medication, which i will neither confirm nor deny). (!)

My first girlfriend wound up being somewhat of a psycho/bitch; horrible breakup ensues. (!)

I managed not to fail anything despite all of the above circumstances, but garner my first C (in Recording Class) (!)

I have no spring vacation; i immediately started work at Admissions after classes ended. (!)

I am totally miserable in my apartment; i don’t speak much to my roommate. (!)

I miserably quit blogging for an entire week when my archives disappear. (!)

I do not leave the city once during the entire summer. (!)

I spend the majority of the summer wondering where i’ll be living in September. (!)

I sign up to attend the Philadelphia Folk Fest and then have to back out because of work and moving into my new apartment. (!)

I step in to give the counselor-of-the-day presentation one Tuesday in September, because the counselor in question was to horror-stricken to speak. (!)

I enter a rather depressive haze and let details about it slip to my mother, who becomes physically ill at the thought of my mental instability. (!)

I am admitted to the hospital for four days only to be told absolutely nothing is wrong with me. (!)

I endlessly deliberate over a first date with someone who lives across the country from me and who i like very much — only to be romantically rebuffed. (!)

I spend the entire last weekend of the year in the most dire of blah moods. (!)

So, that’s my year. At a glance, 2001 looks as though it might have been my worst year ever pound for pound. However, lest we all despair for my miserable year, click the end of each phrase for the happy ending that i might not have hinted at while blogging. And, in case i haven’t mentioned it, Happy New Year.

Also filed in 9/11, Blogger, SGapt, Year 2, admissions, bloggish, college, erika, family, lindsay, memories, mom, q.o.d., theatre | | Comments (0)

Sunday, July 29, 2001

“Will It Ever Come” is a funny little song, and the first beeside of the day to be from my demo cd. I decided that since this is theoretically bringing in an entirely new audience to add to my regular one it was okay to cheat a little and use the songs from my demo as beesides. But, anyway, it’s a special funny little song. First, that recording of it was a studio ad-lib… literally consisting of me asking if the tape was running and then playing it straight through without any extra takes, and then rewinding and adding the second vocal without even really thinking about what i was doing. Honestly, i had never even played the song all the way through before, it was just a set of lyrics i had with me.

The lyrics, which were some of the first to be featured on this blog, are their own funny little story. The night that i wrote them i had been to the house that some of the other people i do theatre with share, and one of those people was a girl that i was very much in love with at the time even though we were agreed to just be friends. I gave her a copy of my previous demo and we talked a little, and she had this winsome smile half the time, and when i got back to the dormitory i sat down and scribbled out “will it ever come” on a scrap of paper and then blogged it absentmindedly and forgot about it. If it wasn’t for my new demo it wouldn’t have ever seen the light of day.

And it was the last song i wrote about her.

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Sunday, May 13, 2001

By the way, over 60 demos have found their way out into the hands of the public over the course of the last 10 days. Considering the scale i’m operating on, i’d say that’s equivalent to shipping gold the week of my debut. And, much in the same way last year’s demo locked me into playing “A Long Time Since” and “Other Plans” in generally the same way every time thereafter, i’m starting to feel some of the new arrangements locking in as i hear the cd more and more. And, furthermore, it’s finally opened up a chance for me to work on some new songs, some of which have made guest appearances here. But, anyway, i’m sure i have something important i’m supposed to be doing. See ya.

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Saturday, May 5, 2001

I think i’m trying to hard too write Ani DiFranco songs.

Let me qualify that. Ani gave some funny little interview in the last year or two where she said that “Out of Habit” is a bitch to play anymore because it has too many chords. All of her newer songs have less chords than “Out of Habit,” and so to make it match them she effectively chopped out half of the chord progression so now it sounds just like “Firedoor.”

It’s important to keep in mind after hearing this that “Out of Habit” only has eight chords in it, and they aren’t especially hard chords. And two of them repeat. The result of Ani’s elimination of 8-chord songs is that her music is much more hook-ridded then it first turned out, but disappointingly simple once you figure out what tuning and voicing she’s been using. Going through Relief the two most complex songs structurally are “Relief” and “Bridge,’ both of which just tack together several easy chord progressions and riffs to make one decent song. Am i becoming boring before i ever got interesting? Should i be striving for more complex and sprawling chord structures? Should i be looking inbetween the lines for the passing chords? Or, should i just stop second guessing what comes out of my head and enjoy it for what it is? One to think about.

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Thursday, May 3, 2001

An hour past showtime. I will never, ever, ever play into microphones outdoors ever again in my career as a bitchy little folk singer. The student tech crew could inexplicably not get either of our guitars to come in via our pickups, so we had to mic them both with microphones. Now, i dunno if you’ve ever seen me play before, but i shimmy around like a belly dancer with a cricket put down the back of my shirt, so giving me a stationary microphone to play my guitar at is the worst idea you could ever have. Furthermore, they couldn’t even get our vocal mics to come out of the monitors in front of us, so i couldn’t hear Gina singing anything directly, just from off to the side. After sitting there strumming a G chord for ten minutes while the sound guys did everything but get us any sort of monitor mix we could hear, we finally decided to start and see what happened.

“Punk” was a thankfully quick crash and burn, though at that point we were assuming the monitor problem would get fixed. In our naivety we managed to get some good harmony going. However, the set took a downturn during “Deadweight” when two obnoxious guys were standing directly in front of us having a conversation and we still couldn’t hear ourselves playing. I, of course, started directing all of the lyrics right at the conversationalists – which wound up getting their attention rather quickly (they especially looked up when i screamed “i can’t get rid of you even if i want to, cause your deadweight the way you serve no purpose”). “With or Without You” was quick and rather painless for me because Gina was singing, but i couldn’t hear her guitar so i didn’t know what the hell was going on. “Lost” sucked because i couldn’t hear my guitar over the reverb of our voices (which finally found their way into the monitor), so i basically just played it quick and angry (which generally works well). I stalked off to retune after that and Gina bravely attempted “Landslide” solo while the wind dueted into her microphone, after which i came jogging back onto the stage for a very brave attempt at “Under My Skin” (in which the solo was rendered totally moot because Gina had no pickup for her acoustic guitar so we couldn’t hear what she was playing). After that we were supposed to play another 20 minutes of songs, but i was basically just muttering “fuck” under my breath inbetween every lyric and Gina was totally frustrated, so we hammered out “Can’t Do” and walked right off the front of the staging area without even saying thank you. Yep… i’m a rock star in training; i’ve got the attitude and everything.

The next band’s instruments all plugged in fine and the band sounded wonderful, even though they had too much reverb. There was a chick guitarist in the last band, but i was too pissed to hang around much longer. Somehow i managed to sell fifteen demos in the midst of all of this, but that leaves me with mucho extra copies, so get your orders in now. Ugh.

Also filed in arcati crisis, guitar, performance, under my skin | | Comments (0)

Thursday, May 3, 2001

Five hours. I just ran into Gina, so … she’s here. I also dropped off my rapidly fuzzing liner notes to be copied on stock paper – had i planned this out properly i would have had the liner done digitally for today, however when it comes down to digital liner notes or underwear to wear for your show the right choice is (usually) doing laundry. Also, Gina and I were just totally improbably asked to record songs for a play opening in D.C. in July that will be playing at the Philly Fringe Festival, which means we might get to perform live there. This is ultra-tentative, but if i pursue it i think it’ll work out. See how easy it is to network when you’re not just some random kid recording dumb little concerts for your website ;-)

Meanwhile, somehow i leaked the liner notes before the demo release (i know how: i am a dumbass), so people are starting to catch wind of the thanx they received. I’m probably going to change the inside liner notes for each “pressing” of the disc so i can keep straight which ones got made when, so hopefully there’ll be some continuing surprises. But, now i have to sit at my desk and stew for another hour while my copies are being done. What fun.

Also filed in admissions, arcati crisis | | Comments (1)

Thursday, May 3, 2001

Six hours and fifteen minutes. The liner notes are finally done (i take this down-to-the-wire stuff seriously), and i’m just this bubbly giggly mass of idiocy every time i look at them. Sure, i’ve been listening to the demo for two or three weeks now on my stereo, and i gave Peter Mulvey the first virginal copy last week, but this is something wholly different. On my living floor there are 42 copies of my emotions waiting for an image to go with the sound, and i’ve got it in my hands. And i even lined it up on double sided paper with the admissions office copier! Love those DIY production values! So, anyway, i’m not getting very much work done, but all of my little demo errands are finished except for getting the liner notes copied and cut. More updates soon.

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Thursday, May 3, 2001

The concert countdown is now officially underway! Seven and a half hours and counting until Gina and I take the stage awash in fame and record high temperatures. Am i nervous? Possibly; i’ve basically invited everyone i know to come see us play this tiny acoustic set of songs and we’re playing in the midst of some Drexel bands who i’m a minor-league fan of. And we’ve never done harmony on “Punk,” “Under My Skin,” “Never Say Goodbye,” or “A Perfect Day” live before. But, no reason to be alarmed – after all, part of the charm of acoustic musicians is their ability to entangle and then unknot themselves from oddball onstage situations without ever breaking a sweat. Or, at least, they don’t break a sweat from the stress. The heat might get to them, though.

Errr… right. 5:30 today between Market and Chestnut & 33rd and 32nd. 42 demos available for a to-be-decided price. And me pretending i’m a rock star.

Also filed in arcati crisis, hot, performance | | Comments (0)

Friday, April 27, 2001

Wanna connect some musical dots? Would they just be tied whole notes, then? Well, last night i saw Peter Mulvey in concert from less than ten feet away for the sixth or seventh time. He and his sideman David “Goody” Goodrich turned in a short and moody set of favourites as well as a new tune, after which they chatted briefly with me a few different times. This has sorta become the defacto post-concert behaviour, because i’ve seen Peter so many times now that he’s grown to recognize me (and the wild war-whoops i usually let out from the audience when i’m not losing my voice). I gave him my demo cd last year and he told me last night that he and Goody listened to it on the way to their gigs and then he put it on a shelf of things he tries not to lose. I gave him my new demo (the first finished copy, so don’t think he stole yours away), and he gave me one of his discs in exchange and hugged me goodnight.

Peter’s set was (too) short because he was opening for Erin McKeown. Erin is a bundle of frightening folk/jazz guitar prowess and vocals that sliced the room right open. She was totally enrapturing. Erin was a student at Brown Univerisity not too long ago, which was my first choice school. Oh well. But, even cooler, Ms. McKeown (who i viewed from a meager distance of a yard or two) just got through with opening for Ani DiFranco, who we all know i love and adore.

Ah, but it gets better. Ani DiFranco has had (since before i could play guitar) a dedicated tabber named Leigh Marble, who i think was the first independent folk artist i had ever heard of back in those naive times. Leigh and i grew to sorta know each other by email – in that he’d tab something and then i’d send him some whiney little corrections i noticed from obsessively rewinding and replaying my tape of Ani on David Letterman. I think a few of my tabs might even be up on his legendary AniTabs page.

The most interesting element here is not that i know Leigh, though. It’s that Leigh split a 7 inch single with Erin in 1999 called Anticipation et Denouement, and listening now to the album i bought from her last night i’m vaguely recognizing songs that i first heard two years ago while restless surfing through Leigh’s site while waiting for him to post a new Ani DiFranco tab.

Yeah, it’s a small damn world. Even smaller once you pick up a guitar.

Also filed in Year 1, ani difranco, guitar, mckeown, mulvey | | Comments (0)

Tuesday, April 24, 2001

I’m starting to hate “Under My Skin“. Sure, it’s a wonderful song, and i love to perform it alone or with Gina backing me, but it’s starting to make me feel like a one-hit-wonder in training. Despite my playing a whole host of songs for my friends here at Drexel for well over a year, the one they always ask for when i’m playing is “Under My Skin” (or, if it’s Renata – “Play ‘legends of the flesh!’”). While they recognize “Never Say Goodbye,” “Deadweight,” “Crashing,” and “Lost,” “Under My Skin” is undoubtably the one that sticks out in their minds. UMS is the only song my mother has ever complemented me on, even after listening to my entire demo twice last night. I’m truly flattered by all of the attention, but i honestly can’t make a prediction on how long any song is going to be sticking around in my performances for; some songs like “Other Plans” seem to want to hang around forever, but other early favourites like “Touch” have fallen off the face of my musical landscape and are hardly every recalled.

I don’t play things just because people like them – i play them because i have something to say. While it feels nice to know that someone might be singing along to something, there are nights that UMS feels redundant in the face of newer material. Furthermore, i come from the Ani DiFranco school of performing that states that i can leave out any songs i don’t want to play, and that i can feel free to change the tempo and lyrics of anything people seem to be too comfortable with. Of course, at this point i shouldn’t give a fig about challenging my audience – i ought to just find one. It’s just that i see all the attention getting funnelled towards the middle of my new cd, where “Under My Skin” lies, and all the other songs that i worked harder and longer on are being ignored. I think i’m going to leave UMS in it’s pre-mix for the album … raw, and unfinished. It isn’t a perfect song, and there’s no reason i should try to make it sound like one.

Also filed in Year 1, ani difranco, college, gina, mom, under my skin | | Comments (0)

Friday, April 20, 2001

The cover art, tracklisting, and title of the demo is now set. All that’s left to do is trim extra time off each track, write the liner notes, and start burning copies. Rock on.

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Friday, April 20, 2001

Demo = done. Listening now. :) Aww yeah.

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Thursday, April 19, 2001

Demo update: Everything except for “never say goodbye” has been mixed down at least once; everything should be whittled down to a final mix tonight in the studio and burned to cd so i can get a track order together. A few promo copies might be floating around by Thursday of next week, but the earliest chance to grab a cdr copy of the disc will be in the Quad at Drexel on May 3rd, where we’ll have a limited number of copies for sale for $3. Anyone who buys a cdr copy can simply trade it back to upgrade to a pressed one when i get them done next month (not that there’ll be any difference, other than artwork). If you’d like a promo copy and you won’t physically be seeing me soon, you’ll need to send me $4 (shipping is $.99), or you can wait to order the mp3.com version which will be up early next month (and will cost $6). Obviously there won’t be any free copies this time, only because i’m trying to get together enough money to get a decent sized run of discs pressed in the near future. Got it? Cool. Check back this weekend for further promo audio.

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Wednesday, April 18, 2001

crashing / will it ever come?

[both songs are nearing their final mix]
[so, enjoy them for what they are]

[even more soon]

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Tuesday, April 17, 2001

Three consecutive nights of four hour trips into the recording studio will yield my completed studio demo on Saturday, ready for track-listing and duplication. Duplication, however, is the major issue at hand. I could just copy discs one at a time and put lables on them as i did last time, but i think the whopping 25 discs that were made indicates what a pain in the ass that is. I could go through Mp3.com, where i’d make back half of each unit price, but i can’t use either of the covers i recorded because of legal issues. Finally, i could just get 150 discs pressed and printed, but that would cost as much as $4 per unit out of pocket, so i’d need to charge at least $3 per disc to cover my expenses. So, what do you think? Do you want new music from me bad enough to send me a few dollars in the mail, or is it mostly important for me to get it out fast and free? The whole point is to spread it to the masses, so i really care what your opinion is.

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Saturday, April 14, 2001

So, um, yeah. My mother hated last year’s demo because she’s stupid. Or, rather, she is all about the show that’s put on for her, and she can’t notice lyrics or songwriting without it. The demo was explicitly meant as a showcase of those two things, since it totally lacked quality of production, but she could never get past that so she never really listened to it. So, suddenly she’s handed a tape with a studio quality “under my skin” on it, and she wants to send it to the record companies right now despite the fact that it still pretty much sounds like shit. Of course, she doesn’t care, because the studio EQ and the backing vocals are there so she can gush all over it and say that i’ve never done anything worthwhile ever before in my life. Which is the worst compliment she could ever pay me, because this is the product of my life, not its sum total. Or something. This is why she’s in Florida right now and i don’t mind so much…

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Saturday, April 14, 2001

I’m starting to feel famous. Or, more accurately, people are actually starting to know and recognize my songs. Sure, it’s not hundreds of people, but i have enough of a market for the upcoming disc that i’m actually looking into getting it printed rather than just burning them one by one. The fact that i played “Under My Skin” last night twice and that people sang along makes it that much better. Amy thinks it’s an ego thing, but honestly i’m just happy that all of my sonic toiling is finally having an effect on people. Not quite a rock star yet, but i’ve got some years left before i get my diploma to work on it :p

Also filed in aim, performance, thoughts, under my skin | | Comments (0)

Saturday, April 14, 2001

I started playing “Hold on Me” and Selina walked into the shop halfway through the first verse. Have you ever played a song written about your ex-girlfriend while you still really liked her in the same room with her after the breakup? Well… you’d think it’d be really fun, but really it was an exercise in subtly changing lyrics to reflect the current situation, and keeping your eyes pressed shut tightly so you don’t have to look at her. After i launched immediately into “Splinter” Selina eventually left the shop, and Gina got me to lay off the mean relationship songs. However, we then played “Under My Skin” again and i performed the “i don’t miss you anymore” extended mix (much to Gina’s confusion and delight). The first time i ever sang the song in this fashion was to Selina when we first started seeing each other, and the “miss you anymore” was my way of telling myself i finally was over Laurel. The demo version is much more conflicted at that point of the song, because it was physically sung to Laurel, who i was over but still very pleased to serenade. The version last night brought me full circle back to sitting in Selina’s dorm room with my guitar, pouring out my heart to her. It was empty for a while, but i hear refills are free.

Also filed in gina, laurel, performance, q.o.d., under my skin | | Comments (0)

Sunday, April 1, 2001

As for the Cast Party on friday night there were only a middling amount of actual cast members there, but there was plenty of liquor and it got rather interesting rather quickly. Highlights included being told i was “the gay icon of the entire homosexual population of the Freshman class,” a rocking acoustic performance of “Like a Virgin” that didn’t even involve me, and how everyone was scratching and clawing at each other to get ahold of the one Pre-Mix demo i brought for Laurel, who left today. Lowlights included dropping a bottle of hard lemonade right on the ground instead of getting it into the pocket i was aiming for, not really having any females to flirt with in a productive fashion, and the inhuman amount of vodka i put in every single screwdriver. If you’ve got a low tolerance, don’t let me mix drinks for you, okay? The night came out alright, though i wound up sleeping far far into the afternoon yesterday after i finally dragged my ass back to the apartment. Certainly not a night i’ll be forgetting anytime soon.

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Sunday, March 25, 2001

While hanging out (again) with Kathe today she was working on a website for our Campus Activities Board and had forgotten to bring cds to the office with her. Of course, I came to the rescue fresh out of an incredibly dull mixing session in the recording studio, and proceeded to play the following for well over two hours: Lost Out, Punk, Deadweight, Inadequacy Song, Five Minutes, Touch, Afterglow, Falling Down, Hold On Me, Will It Ever Come?, All That’s True, A Long Time Since, Splinter, Under My Skin, Other Plans, Gravel, Both Hands, Tear In Your Hand, Never Say Goodbye, No Second Chance, World In My Hand, Typical, More Than That, Resolve, Relief, Revirginized Honey, Nothing To Say, Hide Your Eyes, Give, Burn, Make Sense, & Bridge. Yeah, that’s a lot of songs, and one or two were even omitted for time’s sake, if you could imagine. If it had been a real concert, intermission would have started after “Never Say Goodbye,” and the encore began the very rare (not played once in all of 2000) “Hide Your Eyes.” Lyrics to everything except the three covers can be grabbed from AMkitchen’s lyric page. So… i’m all guitar-ed out for the day; my fingers are all frayed and dented and my voice is in nearly the same condition, although that tends to yield more fun results than numbed-out fingertips. Bed-time quickly approached.

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Saturday, March 24, 2001

If, when you sit down to start mixing your demo cd, you nearly pass out and proceedingly recall that you haven’t eaten anything that most people would consider to be a meal in well over 24hours, that typically is when you should leave the recording studio. It helps if you just nailed your last track, tho…

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Saturday, March 24, 2001

Well, after a two hour wrestling match with “Tear in You Hand,” i’ve come to the conclusion that not all ideas which begin in my head wind up sounding right once outside of it. Just like the piano in “Crashing” (which sounds quite lovely on it’s own, but clashes like hell with the guitar), an all-me version of “Tear in Your Hand” seems like it would sound cool, but it really really doesn’t. The song is at once too low and too high for me, and even though the microphone generally makes up for what i lack in range, i just can’t carry the song with any kind of enthusiastic tempo. So, it’ll stay on the tape for posterity, but i think i’m done with that little experiment. So… um… did i have something else to record?

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