Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

Archives for 2000

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I’ve gotten to the point where i’m just leaving a fork in my box of precious precious cheesecake so that i don’t have to rinse off a new one ever time i decide to have a piece. Leaving me here alone for more than a day or two is rather dangerous, because everything loses all semblance of order without Matt around to make me feel self-conscious about it. I practically have the door barricaded with discarding clothing, shoes, and shopping bags, not to mention the musical war-zone. And, i’m still denying that the bedroom even exists, let alone how much it needs to be organized. I mean, didn’t i just clean before i left for Florida? ugh…

https://crushingkrisis.com/2000/12/1821069/

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The apartment is like some sort of musical war zone right now… all of my guitars are out and about and the electric’s case is lying open right in front of the bathroom. Meanwhile, the amp has struck out a position exactly in the middle of the floor with it’s cord racing under the coffee table to connect with my bass, which is seated comfortable on the couch. My acoustic is thrown over the other arm of the sofa, and inbetween the two instruments my cd book is flipped open to the Peter Mulvey page. On the coffee table there’s some Bowie cds, my computer speakers, my cd walkman, an Ani DiFranco sheet music book, and a box of guitar picks. One speaker is connected to my computer (another cross-room cord) and the other is plugged into the walkman. My stereo is hovering slightly in front of the door as if anticipating a visitor, and behind it the amp is plugged into the wall (usurping my cd changer for the time being). Only Matt’s 5-string bass has managed to stay safely tucked away in the bedroom, awash in a certain fear that it might be called into action if my attention rests on it for more than a moment. Happily, my bedroom door is closed … there’s a whole other mess in there to deal with.

https://crushingkrisis.com/2000/12/1821009/

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So, now my fingers smell like the dull metal of my guitar strings, and i am in no mood whatsoever to record a Trio. Of course, i’m never in the mood to record one, and that’s sorta the whole point of recording them. But, rest assured i won’t be using too many alternate tunings today… no sir…

https://crushingkrisis.com/2000/12/1820919/

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I never wanna retune my guitar again. Ever. I don’t know what got into me, but last night after i got done chatting with Re i was listening to a solo recording of Peter Mulvey‘s “Grace,” and i suddenly decided that it would be fun to figure out how to play it. Of course, “Grace” occurs in the tuning CFCFAC, while a guitar starts off in EADGBE. So… that took about a half hour in and of itself, and after that i still had to figure out how to play the song. It was here that my semester of aural skills kicked in, and i easily found some basic notes that had been eluding me on all other occasions of toying with the song. However, the problem with Peter Mulvey is often not finding what notes he’s playing, but where he’s playing them. I’m quite sure i nailed down his pattern on the main riff, but past that i have all the right notes in all the wrong places. Compare: me vs. Peter.


Achieving that first relative victory, i decided to move on the the more impossible, “A Better Way to Go,” which i have seen Peter perform live sitting as close as i am to my computer without being able to play it afterwards. Happily, last night was one of my so-called “magic ear” nights, and the song was hardly even a challenge … i got much closer to the actual sound of it than i did on “Grace,” though i can’t hardly play the scales that he uses inbetween chords. Compare: me vs. Peter.


As a result of all of this fooling around, i think my legendary page of obscure guitar chords (Tori, Ani, Mulvey) is going to finally make its appearance on Uprush any day now, with some fun new additions. WheE!

https://crushingkrisis.com/2000/12/1820855/

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Now there’s two of them… i mean who stands in front of a window for twenty minutes having a conversation? I at least sit down in front of the window half nude, rather than standing (and if you were wondering about the logistics of it, we have lower ceilings than the houses across the street, so my third floor apartment is lower than theirs (thus they can see into mine)).

https://crushingkrisis.com/2000/12/1814427/