Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

thoughts

Pack Ratting Red Red Sharpener

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To ring in 2007 I undertook some major home-office/recording-studio cleaning last night in the hopes of stemming the frequent avalanches of stuff that occur whenever I place anything on or walk past my desk. Because, gosh darn it, if my work desk can be organized, so can my home desk.

My desk cleaning reminded me of just how much of a pack rat I truly am. Behold: Tiny boxes that held small Christmas presents four years ago. The extra buttons to every Express shirt I’ve ever bought (and that’s a lot of buttons). Six year old pens.

Think about that. I had pens from 2000! Six year old pens that I refused to throw away because they’re from the time VW set up a tent on campus and they gave me a bag of shwag for standing on a table in the middle of the event and singing I’m a little teapot (as if that was a challenge for me; I probably would have done it naked).

My desk cleaning also lead me to a moment of reflection on my red Panasonic pencil sharpener.

You see, my red Panasonic pencil sharpener has been with me since third grade. It used to sit next to the dining room table in my childhood home. It came with me to college, and survived all three of my apartments.

It might not be very sexy, it might be as heavy as a brick, but after seventeen years of use the darn thing still works perfectly. By contrast, I’ve been through three separate sharpeners in the past year at the office.

I guess they don’t make them like they used to.

(Yes, you do see Rogue in the foreground of that shot. She’s not quite as old as the Panasonic, but she’s survived all the same locales – in fact, when I first got my webcam in 2001 I believe she spent a day on-camera perched outside of my window, searching for injustice to fight.)

Writer’s Dyke Unplugged

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Two days of a temporary stoppage of post topics was followed by a weekend full of enough blog-worthy happenings that i can hardly keep them all in my head at once! Which will i write about first, and which not at all?

A wonderfully tipsy holiday lunch with my co-workers. Unearthing ancient audio and importing Blogathon posts into WP. Watching Superman Returns and crying every time Brandon Routh looked a lot like Christopher Reeve. How finding a great gift for Gina drove home why my holiday gifts are going to be donation-based, and my subsequent call to my mother to tell her not to buy me any presents. Rehearsing with Gina, and how it feels to finally be able to sing harmony. Playing in a new music showcase, where I was invited to be in a Space-Rock-Opera (and, how Tori Amos is the great uniter of people). The cab-driver I think I may have just imagined. Buying used DVDs from Netflix. The new No-Cast, and how I have a perfect example.

I’m sure i’m forgetting things already, but I had a long, busy, breakless day at work – I’m not exactly raring to write several thousand words about my weekend.

However, while I go unwind: I need a good cover song to go with a Trio topic along the lines of “Advice Untaken.” I have a few ideas, but I’m trying to stay away from the artists I hit last month. Any suggestions/requests?

i can’t discern what i’m doing wrong

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When i was in high school i stubbornly grew out my hair into a pony-tail as a protest against keeping up appearances. I would not mousse and gel every morning like every other sap; i didn’t have the time in my day to preen.

(Plenty of irony in that, of course, as i spent plenty of time preening in high school – just not on my hair.)

I am the opposite now, curls everywhere, always fussing. I am utterly defeated by a less-than-stunning day of hair, and lately it has not been so cooperative. So, this morning i coaxed it, treating it to different products – calming gel instead of volumizing mousse, firming pomade instead of stickifying goup.

My hair looked great, curls tamed close to my head like some latter-day star. I was definitely not defeated. But, in place of defeat instead i feel flat. Just like my hair. As if my nature verve is all about volume, and i am utterly reliant on the combo of volume and beauty to equal and energetic and optimistic day.

Or, maybe i could feel this day coming on, and tamed down my hair in anticipation. The reverse peacock effect.

I don’t know.

…in bed

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Several years ago i acted in a show about morals (in both senses of the word), and at the end we handed out fortune cookies to audience members as they filed their way out of the theatre.

It was a lightly attended show, and we wound up with a huge box of uneaten cookies. The cast and crew took it upon themselves to dispose of said box at the cast party, resulting in each of us eating several dozen fortune cookies.

Of course, the most exciting part of eating fortune cookies is the fortune, which is why we were so disappointed to realize that our box of cookies had a finite amount – maybe ten or fifteen – of fortunes. Perhaps I had seen a duplicate fortune once or twice before in my life, but learning just how slim the fortune options were in a given crate of cookies was depressing.

Ever since then i have hated eating fortune cookies, but i have persevered in my hunt for unique and original fortunes. Or, at least ones that aren’t so general as to apply to anyone.

Idleness is the holiday of fools.

For a few years now that has been my favorite fortune. I got it one day when i was out to lunch with my old boss. We both appreciated it equally, so i brought it back with me to pin up at my desk.

Even after three subsequent desk (and boss) moves the fortune still sits pinned directly above my phone, where it frowns down upon me if am ever tempted to twiddle thumbs or sharpen pencils in order to put-off or altogether-avoid something i ought to be doing.

It is highly effective. I would say that approximately 30% of my productivity is the result of that tiny strip of paper. If i ever lost it I would print a new one.

The only downside of “Idleness is the holiday of fools,” is that it isn’t much of a fortune (unless, of course, it was assuming i am an idle fool). It’s really more of a proclamation.

However, last week out to lunch with co-worker Elib i received my new favorite fortune, because this one enforced something i often doubt. It read:

You will always get what you want through your charm and personality.

At first this might seem a little at odds with “Idleness” – it seems to be indicating i can be as idle as i want, so long as idle with charm.

I choose to see it more as a reminder that an absence of idleness alone does not equal success. To find true success i need to be engaged and happy, and that happiness needs to be an almost tangible force to each person i encounter.

As for “in bed,” i remain in favor of the first.

What’s the best fortune you ever received (in bed)?

All About My Music

Crushing Krisis is not primarily a home to my music but music has been one of the predominate topics of CK for nearly 30 years.

I have been writing original music since 1997. When I first started to play guitar I took a handful of guitar lessons, but I quit when my teacher wouldn’t show me how to play the B-minor in “Ziggy Stardust.” Other than those lessons, I am a self-taught musician, though I later received my minor Drexel’s Music Industry program, which expanded my knowledge of songwriting and production.

I have a category that is comprised entirely of music related posts. A major subcategory of that is my podcast Trio, which featured over ten hours of original audio over the course of this blog. You can also find dozens of streaming and downloadable demos posted during the lifespan of this site. I have a separate page that details my recording setup, including the details of my instruments and equipment.

As a solo artist my songwriting is largely influenced by the artists I covered the most in my early years of playing, which were Ani DiFranco, David Bowie, and Peter Mulvey. At various points I have also been influenced by Madonna, Tori Amos, Garbage Garrison Starr, Juliana Hatfield, Weezer, The Beatles, Rufus Wainwright, and many others. As a result, my catalog runs the gamut from percussive folk/rock to huge pop hooks to A/C ballads to hard-rockers. I could field entire albums in each genre.

People are still most likely to compare me to Ani DiFranco, partially because I use a many alternate tunings – primarily variations on Open D (DADF#AD) and C/D5 (DADGCE), but also more unusual ones like CGDF#CD and DA#DDAD. However, I sound much more like her former drummer, Andy Stochansky. I have also been compared to Maroon 5 and Jason Mraz, both of which I find flattering. I think I sound more like a solo version of The Honorary Title, or maybe Death Cab for Cutie.

I also perform as part of a duo called Arcati Crisis with my best friend, Gina Martinelli. We have been lucky to play in many of Philly’s best venues, and with an awe-inspiring array of Philly’s local talent. We sometimes sounds like a pop-oriented Indigo Girls, or a boy-girl Sleater-Kinney, or an acoustic Rilo Kiley, or a pianoless Mates of State, or an unplugged Human League. Mostly we just sound like us.

Finally, I am sometimes a guest-member of my wife’s band, Filmstar – typically as their bass player and backing vocalist.

Finally, I am the Director of Communications for Lyndzapalooza, a Philly-based, non-profit music promoter that has been producing yearly festivals since 2003. In 2008 we expanded our schedule to include seasonal mixers and weekly open mics, both of which have introduced me to some of the best musicians in Philadelphia.