Busy

Keeping busy...I've been working hard on the press kit for two weeks. I've been submitting my electronic press kit to various places, stuff like that.

Samantha took a bunch of pictures for the press kit the other day, but the film was bad, it was wierd just a clear strip of celluloid for the negative. Anyway -that's one thing that isn't there yet. But I like the old basement-troubadour stuff. I am glad though that I'm finally getting out of the basement in terms of my own material, I want to share these songs with people who might appreciate them.

I went to the "FAR-West Acoustic Summit" yesterday at Mississippi Studios, which was very enlightening, and a hell of a lot of fun. So much good music happening there.
Probably my favorite was Ter-ra a female acoustic song duo from Portland. But I really identified with the songs by singer/songwriter Chico Schwall.

I found out that I've booked a wedding in September at the Black Walnut Inn. I'll play classical for the ceremony and songs for the reception.

I was also going to do a slot at this place that's opening up called the 9 Muses, but I just don't think I can do another open-mic type of deal, and I'm going to tell him so. The guy's so frazzled getting the place ready to open he hasn't even looked at my stuff, and he wants me to do a competition style open mic. It does nothing for me. I mean, what the hell have I been doing all these years? I've payed my dues with open mics and talent shows and meat market "battle of the bands."

I wouldn't be against playing for free at a place like that, but I need to at least be able to do a full set. In my experience those environments aren't conducive to creating a good vibe between artists, which for me is one of the goals.

Take Me Out

I'm having a really good writing spurt...I always write a lot, but it feels like I've punched through some kind of threshold in my ability.

I wrote another tune last night that I'm really happy with. This one probably needs to be edited into a smaller tune as it's almost 7 minutes long, but I'm not sure what I could cut.

The song is about the world right now, "I'm just trying to live my life, in a world that's guickly falling apart." -Trying to live with our eyes open -to have a fulfilling life without ignoring the fact that there are so many people (terrorist and otherwise) trying to destroy this paradise that we live in -Recognizing our responsibilities as humans who make an impact on the world without feeling like we have to carry the weight of the world. Anyway, enough with the bad sentence structure.

I recorded the tunes this afternoon, but only managed to get the first verse down for "This Time."


"This Time"

"Take Me Out"

I think I See the Light

Well, the show last night was fun if nothing else. My new rig works well, but the direct recording didn't sound nearly as close to the live sound as I would have liked.

I didn't end up recording "This Time," but I did get a pretty good performance of the tune "I Think I See the Light." I wrote this one 6 or 7 years ago during the period when I was thinking a lot about how so much of what I grew up believing was really a lie, and a means of control.

"i think i see the light"

There might be a couple more tunes worth uploading later too, but I'm going to record "This Time" soon so I can hear how it sounds third person so to speak.

This Time -new tune

I promised myself that I would start using this space to talk about the songwriting process, so I'm starting with this one. I've been working on it the last couple of days and the lyrics are almost solidified.

The last few years have been much better for me in terms of finishing songs. Mostly I attribute this to not worrying as much about the individual words and instead focusing on the overall idea behind the lyric. I'll find a nice chord structure that pushes a melody to the surface. If I'm lucky the concept for the lyric will come naturally from the mood of what I'm playing.

This tune for instance felt like a hopeful tune, it has just a repeated four chord structure and sort of reminded me of a Van Morisson tune like "Brand New Day" or one of those. What popped into my head was the memory of discovering a new emotion.

For want of stronger language I fell in love all over again, only on a completely different level. It really is impossible to describe in words, it was a spiritual moment. I can't remember what led up to it, but we were looking into each other's eyes and then we were both crying. I guess that's what happens when an emotion so strong hits you like that.

Throughout my life I've only more strongly realized how disfunctional the world is and how rare it is to find a truly genuine relationship. So many people we've had in our lives are fakers and want to take advantage of us in one way or another. These situations always make my feelings for Samantha even stronger.

Anyway, although I used to find most love songs cheesy, I don't seem to have much trouble writing them, they always seem to move fast. 10 minutes later I had a page and a half of lyrics and was balling my eyes out singing them. I edited them so that they flowed a little better and am mostly satisfied that it's a complete song.



The problem was one that is pretty common. Some of the lines rhymed or could be made to rhyme pretty easily, but trying to force it can make the process fall apart. So do I ignore the potential for rhyming, try to make it all rhyme or what? That's why it's not quite done, I want to play it some more and figure it out.

In the end I doubt that the lyrics will win me any awards, but I don't care. When I can capture an emotion in a song in a way that brings it back so strongly it's a masterpiece to me.

I'll try to get some kind of recording of it this week. Maybe I'll play it and record my set at the coffee shop on Friday.

Moving Fast

Things are moving pretty fast now. A producer named Jim Ragland (www.jimragland.com) says he wants to produce an album for me. He produced a lady by the name of Patti-Anne Mathison (www.pamathison.com) who has had her music on more than 150 radio stations, and her album sounds great. I believe that he knows what he's doing, and he knows that I'm serious so we're going go for it.

I'm playing at Coffee Lovers in Portland (4144 SE 60th) on Friday, July 14th from 6:30-8:30. It'll be the first show with my new setup, I'm looking forward to it.

Here are the rest of the tunes from the EP; I think I'll upload the disc as a whole at some point as well.

"Processional"

"Last Night"

"ride"

"April"

"Dissolve"