Crushing Krisis

Blogathon seems to get shorter and shorter ever year, which is not to say that it’s any more or less difficult, just less. At the end of the first year i felt as if i had just won a bonus New Years’ ball drop — all fanfare, but in the middle of July when i was too exhausted to be expected to know what to do about it. Last year it was exhiliration — jumping up and down on the bed excitement.

What does the end bring with it this year? If anything, i think it brings promise of potential — of more excellent things to come. The ‘thon itself shattered its donation goal of $80,000 , more than doubled its number of participants, and was mentioned in a decent array of local and internet media this week. And i continued to hone my mixing ability to the point where some of the blogathon songs could have easily been album tracks if i had taken the time to prepare for them a little bit better. We promise to get bigger and better, blogathon and i, and we promise to see you next year.

In no especially precise order: Thank you to Persa, for being such a receptive soundboard for my early recordings; Amanda and Chris, for stopping by for a while to be an audience; Wes for sitting patiently while i neglected to put his talents to better use; Maggie, for keeping Elise and i so god-damned amused; Dina, for stopping by to lend a hand to my concert; Lisa, for weekly conversation and being an outlet for my Blogathon enthusiasm; Laurel, for being unafraid to let us build a whole song around her voice; Ms Stark, who was very inspiring altogether; SL for finding the time to stop by and raise the coolness factor of my shindig; Chris, for schlepping his bass here in the middle of the night even after i thought he was a totally different person; Rabi, because i knew she’d be watching and yes, i know exactly what your comment meant; Ross, for patiently attempting to learn the bassline to a song that i didn’t wind up using anyhow; Erika for bravely co-hosting and finally letting her voice be heard on CK; Scott and Shannon, for doing something that i want to be able to do in a way that i would have never thought of doing; Melon, for all of her fantastic illustrations (sorry i only used two!); Anthony, for his ear, inspiration, and equipment; TEOS and Mike Kovacs, for their generous artistic donations; Gina, for her dedication to helping me make good music even without being here for the ‘Thon itself; Lindsay, for her absolutely stunning voice and cheering presence; Kate, for being the host that i couldn’t be and the cook that i don’t know how to be; Elise, for her clarinet and for putting up with endless amounts of drama and rescheduling because of how important this is to me; and finally, and most importantly, Cat Connor, not only for inventing and perpetuating this event, but for having enough faith to realize that this year was just a practice for next year, which will rock even harder.

And, thank you reader/listener/friend, you are the reason i even bother to do this in the first place.

One more to go.

Wow, i think i just shocked myself with the quality of a performance.

No, really, modesty aside, it’s so good. You’ll see.

Fuck. Well, i guess i was overdue to loose one perfect take of something at some point. At least it was a solo song.

Damnit, i wanted to hear that twenty years from now.

Well, at least Anthony and Lindsay totally recreated my love of one of the most played songs in the history of television and film.

Ah, and now we’ve reached in the point in the night starts to physically hurt. Not my throat, mind you, but my voice, screaming back at me for every note i strain past its guards. F, it says, i don’t usually have to sings F’s for that long. Wait, what are you doing to me?! Stop that! Ouch!

Okay, so maybe i’m getting a touch delirious, but only because i’m covering a song that’s not in my actual singing range and teaching someone a new instrument at the same time. Oh, and i still have to record two more songs. No pressure… none whatsoever. Right.

Not only have i had over a dozen of the most musically talented people i know in and out of my bedroom, but two of the local vocalist/songwriters that i most admire were generous enough to donate their songs to my Blogathon project.

The first track is from an extraordinary New Jersey guitarist Mike Kovacs, who i have come to be a big fan of over the course of the last year. He plays with a terrific assortment of backing musicians, including a spectacular cellist and a bevy of backing vocalists. It was the first song of his that i ever heard live, and it’s still one of my favorites. I definitely aspire to this sort of studio sound.

TEOS is fronted by someone i work in an office with — someone who wears a shirt and tie. However, on the stage he is a rock frontman to be reckoned with. Our entire office debated which of their tracks to use, and we somehow settled on this one. They are much louder than anything else you’ll hear on Blogathon tonight, and worth listening to more of.

Wow, good thing i have songs, cause i am definitely short on words. Chris and Wes are having a debate as to which band is more important – Styx or REO Speedwagon. And, i just vetoed singing “Landslide” because, well, Shannon Campell does it better (but she has her site hidden for the day so people will tune in to her blog, as if we’d need incentive).

I can hardly comprehend that there have been a dozen people in and out of my room in the last twelve hours, and that all of them are so damned talented. Singers, guitar players, pianists, videographers, artists, cooks… and me, the boy at the computer who never used to be allowed to sing in high school, is the ringmaster.


Incredible.