Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

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Better – Arcati Crisis, Live @ Rehearsal

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I love this darn song.

When it comes to my past few songs, the typical Arcati Crisis selection process is like so:

I write a ton of songs. Sometimes dozens. We sift through them, and eventually choose one because Gina or I finally get stubborn about it. If I don’t change my mind in a month or two, then we learn that song.

“Better” was different. I wrote it knowing it was going to be an AC song before I ever played it for Gina. I wrote it with counter-point, callbacks, and open harmony all built in.

I just knew. And because I knew, it’s so very satisfying to play, to hear, and to watch. It’s not much of a stretch to say it’s my favorite one of my songs to play as a duo right now, and I’m in love with our performance here:

That’s the only way you can hear “Better” at the moment – we took a shot at recording it live, but I suspect it’s going to be one of our first fully tracked songs.

Around the big ball drop I’ll chime in with our final song, somehow appropriate for the end of the year. Then, on to solo music to ramp up to my appearance at the Tin Angel next Friday, opening for Dante Bucci!

Total Eclipse of the Heart – Arcati Crisis, Live @ Rehearsal

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Today was pretty crazy.

In short, I unexpectedly stayed home from work, and just as I was finally dragging my carcass out of bed a digital series of events began to unfold on my laptop (which had been in bed with me) that resulted in my being booked for a solo appearance at the Tin Angel – opening for my friend and esteemed musical colleague Dante Bucci.

Not how I expected to spend the day, and a lot of information to process (and songs to prepare!) in the next nine days. What will I play? Will I slip in a surprise cover?

Gina and I never used to be good at learning things in a hurry, but in 2009 we got suddenly alright at it. We surmised in an interview earlier this year that it’s because we finally figured out what we’re supposed to sound like. Now that we understand our sound, it’s much easier to build it from scratch.

On that topic, this is perhaps our seventh or eighth full run through “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” which we learned in two brief sessions.

There’s still some tweaking to do, but I’m happy we captured this hilarious blast through it on video.

There are just two more songs left in our web concert; after that I’ll be presenting some solo content to take us through my appearance at the Tin Angel on January 8th!

Love Me Love Me Not – Arcati Crisis, Live @ Rehearsal

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The second song in our Live @ Rehearsal concert is my “Love Me Love Me Not.” LMLMN is infamous in that I spent several months actively writing it – like, daily – before it was finished. And then my amazing vocal instructor Dr. Emily Bridges turned it upside a bit, and then Gina turned it upside down a bit more, and then we arrived at this:

That’s the first-ever video of “Love Me Not”! If you love it, download a high fidelity Live @ Rehearsal recording of it, for free.

If you missed the first song, it was Fisher Price. Tomorrow I’ll have a brand new cover, and after the holiday another week of videos!

Backfilled

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I’ve been crap about blogging live for the past few weeks. Too much life, not enough to say.

Or so I thought.

I kept jotting down thoughts as I lived, because stuff kept happening. It seemed pointless at the time – journaling that would never see the light of day. However, starting from the Philebrity party on Thursday I felt like a theme was beginning to emerge. I went back to straighten things out and edit a bit, and it turns out I had something to say that I want represented on CK after all.

The result is that I’m backfilling all the non-blog blogging I’ve done since the first of this month. It’s blogging via hindsight, having seen the threads of my story woven neatly together over the weekend.

In the future I have to post as life happens and trust that a story is being written.

Adventures in Adulthood

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The past ten days have been an adventure – from the unreality of the Imogen Heap and Lady Gaga concerts to the front seat of our car parked in Chinatown a few hours ago.

It felt right to end it sitting on a bedroom floor with E, her sister with her delightful boyfriend, and appearances of an adrenaline-filled little brother and an exhausted dad, both visiting from the cast party downstairs.

I can find a myriad of reasons to be unhappy. I’ll grant that I used to be better at it, but growing up and getting things that you’ve always wanted for yourself takes the edge off. Still, even all married and with a fulfilling job and being a part time rock star I can make myself miserable. Just ask the me of two Monday’s ago.

I say that by way of contrast: when I’m happy, I know it. I clap my hands. I laugh. I love my hair. I say delirious things that get tweeted if Britt or Amanda are anywhere near me. I break out into Rent in the middle of E’s dad’s foyer, high school girls tittering as they walk past.

Those kids sealed the deal for me. I turned around to talk to E and between us was one of the leadz from the play – imperial and larger than life last night, but tiny, young, and fragile between us. I finally got to tell her how awesome she was. She grinned, thanked me, and then yelled, “Steeeeeeeve, where do I get water in your house?”

She was oblivious, moving through space effortlessly just like she did on stage last night. I never knew how to do that as a teenager. If I was happy, it was fleeting, and if I moved through space effortlessly it was because I forgot myself.

I could not have possibly pictured this life as a teenager, sitting on the floor with a partner and siblings I love, laughing louder than the combined forty teenagers downstairs.

Next time I’m feeling grumpy, awful, unhappy, hateful … just remind me about these ten days.