We'll All Come Praise The Infanta
That's one of the possible titles for The Decemberists' new album. Or "Picaresque." We'll all know by March 2005.
One of my recent projects has been mastering the DVD of their recent show at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland.
I got the necessary permissions. The venue staff gave me a comical hard time. Jenny and Chris were at the merch table beforehand and they told me it was OK with them, so I'm gonna give them a copy when they roll back into Ohio in a couple weeks. I made an audio recording, too, but I haven't digitized it yet because a hipster guy at the show had a minidisc recorder and he promised to send me a copy. I was surrounded by English majors, art students (smoking obligatorily), and underage club kids, but that's OK. I've been most of those in my time (minus the nicotine addiction).
I can't sell the DVD, of course, but I can trade it.


It is, IMHO, appropriately titled "The Royal Ubiquitous Handycam, Vol. 1."

Back To Normal?
Well, it's good to have somewhere for my restless thoughts to go again.
And that place now has another year to stretch out into, as that's the deal with Globat.
I'll probably redo the template sometime, as this Blogger freebie won't cut it forever. I'd like something that looks handmade, like the Decemberists' site, with all those lovely Carson Ellis pen and ink drawings. Or painted letter stencils. I love those.

I'm a little dry on good thoughts to post lately, as I've been very busy both with working and relaxing.

Secret: my original plan was to do this web thing for exactly 1 year and then call it quits. Maybe start a whole new blog, But, I've decided to carry on. Partly out of respect for you, the 12 daily visitors, and partly because...well, I couldn't really think of a reason NOT to. So here it is, in all its glory.

Look forward to more thoughts on pro cycling, doping in pro cycling (Tyler now, too, dammit!), music I like, my kids, guitars, Macs, etc.

Wonder of Wonders!
Wowee!
With some expert guidance from Brian, this humble blog has a new home.
For you folks it'll all look the same, but some under the covers work will still be going on for a while (mostly the migration of graphics from one server to another).
Your source for useless ruminations on things you may only vaguely care about now has a whole new life.
Thanks Globat!

Alive and Kicking
No, I'm not dead.
But I would like to strangle my ISP.
Apparently they only give you so much free space, and I've used it all up.
I took down a couple old mp3s that I posted, so that should help.

Looking into a new host (but that'll cost me and I'm a cheapskate mostly).

Or I could just end it








right about







now

And You Were There, And You...
Or whatever Dorothy says at the end.
It's a real place, though for some reason I thought it was RC. (It's Episcopal.) All West Coasters please forgive me for not knowing. I've only barely been west of the Mississippi. But I have been eastward all the way to Prague. I mean, I didn't think it was fictional, just maybe that the real place went by another name. Nevermind. It might be my second favorite Decemberists song. I can play it! Can't sing it though!

Playing With Myself
While I’m here at this thing I’m playing a stupid game (no, not chess—after I ventured into some online tournaments a few years ago I’ve felt kinda burned about the ancient art; people lie about their rating so they can crush people like me, to boost their fragile ego, I suppose?). It’s called “Make a (Deaf and) Dumb Song.” Dumb as in dumb, and dumb as in mute. It’s probably very unacceptable to say Dumb anymore. Verbally challenged? Non-speaking? Who knows? Anyway, I go into GarageBand and put up some loops without having any idea what they will sound like. Then, later I listen to it when I’m out of the session.

No great masterpieces yet.
I think all those monkeys typing will get to War & Peace before I get to a symphony.

Actually I did play some chess. The computer beat me. Of course it did! Unless I dumb it down, it plays at about 2200 or above! That’s like International Master, right below Grandmaster! And I’m maybe 1000 at best (?) That was the provisional rating I got from the internet thing.

Strange internet factor: I can GET mail at the hotel, but can’t send it. I guess I need to finally set up that yahoo or hotmail account.

[There should be a picture here, but my ISP says I got no more space. I'll have to have words with them in the morning.]

Holy Gigapipe, Batman!
This hotel has awesome internet and pretty good breakfast, too!
I went and grabbed the torrent of Robyn Hitchcock at Bumbershoot last week and got download speeds over 150K/s! Up went up that high, too! So I got the whole thing (400MB) in about 45 minutes.
What should I grab next? At home my up and down seem to be capped, even though Brian and I have fiddled endlessly with the modem and router.

Please excuse any duplicate art that I may post while away. I don't have my scanner (obviously) so I have to choose from things already in iPhoto. Consider it a "reappraisal". New pointless doodles will be available after tomorrow.



Actually, GigaPipe is a registered trademark of TruVativ, manufacturer of bicycle components. It doesn't really have anything to do with this here inter-net.

Pick Me!
In Columbus for work, I stopped at Little Brother’s to get Decemberists tickets. It was about 2:15 and the place was just opening up. It was bright, clean, didn’t smell smoky or boozy, and very empty. It looks like a nice little venue. And I didn’t have to pay Ticketbastard extra charges for once. I think I’ll try and videotape that show, and make a DVD for the Brigadiers. I do love all my Decemberists bootlegs, but I love the videos the most.
Now, I’m in Cincinnati for a work conference. It’s somewhat interesting, I must say, and I got a better hotel than last time (free broadband!), plus my muso friends are here. Maybe I can jam with Richard?
Yeah, right!
If he wants to play only CAGED Em Am F and few other minors and 7ths.
There is a nice guitar store up the road. That's where I got that nice soft suede strap for my Washburn. It's so soft, I just want to rub it on my cheek. But now I'm all strapped up, so I can get some cool picks or maybe a 90° plug cable for my Rogue, so it can sit in the stand without the cord getting in the way. But then, when a plug in is it turns on the preamp, so I’ll go through 9 volts faster. I did go ahead and get a rechargeable, so we’ll see how that goes. I saw a brand new Fender acoustic-electric with the exact same Fishman Classic 4, so it must not be total crapulence. I am still debating whether or not to replace the so-called Martin strings it came with. They’re just so much heavier (like .01 or 2!) than I’m used to. I just get so much buzzing cuz I can’t keep the strings down evenly for certain chords. So, I either get used to it or get some extra light GHS strings (I like them!). Calluses aren’t the problem. I got calluses up to my elbows now!

Warning!
Boring parenting theory follows—skip this post if you’re not interested.

Yesterday, Sam, in his daily 4 o’clock tantrum, declared, “My head is gonna esplode if you don’t [do what I want]! Ten! Noin! Ate! Seben! Sicks! Foive! Faw! Free! Two! Wun!” He then proceeded to squint, grunt, and do everything in his power to will his head off. It didn’t work. If it was Gabe he would have tried to make a deal. Charm and cajole your way to what you want. Sam is much more direct. Just scream until you get what you want. Neither method works too well with us. If Lauran and I are already worn out and tired, they often get a frustrated yell in return. Even if we’re feeling great, we still send them to “time out.” Me, I got a wooden spoon when I was that age. For now, at least, the very idea of punishment is enough to make them repent of their evil ways. I have a feeling this isn’t going to last much longer. We have started “grounding” Gabe for infractions—no TV, no friends, no GameCube, etc.

Not My Snide Self Today
But I'm sure I'll be back to normal tomorrow.

Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
I got a new (to me) Beatles boot, demo sessions for what became The White Album. I really should go back and get that. It's pretty much the only canonical album I don't have--all the anthologies and reissues don't count.

Survivors
As I spend too much time managing my music collection, I've noticed that only a few artists have survived since my youth. In no particular order, I will still listen to:
Billy Bragg
The Smiths/Morrissey
Robyn Hitchcock
New Order
The Clash
U2
The Beatles
Johnny Cash
I might also listen to, occasionally:
Shriekback
The Cure
Indigo Girls
XTC
Bauhaus/Love and Rockets

Way Over Yonder In A Minor Key
I recently snagged bunch of Mermaid Ave demos. I think I like them more than the album tracks in some cases. I know from the Bragg bio and the Man In The Sand DVD that there were some "creative differences" between Stephen William Bragg and Mr Tweedy, so are these really just demos or are they the disputed mixes? If I remember correctly, Billy's versions made it onto the CD. With a smirk I think about how Mr "I lean Left" Fair Trade and Justice got to play Stalin on the project. Nevertheless, I think some of the Guthrie/Bragg/Wilco songs are about the best ever in the Bragg canon. And I've even warmed up to baby-faced evil genius, Jeff Tweedy. (I used to always skip his tracks). But maybe it's not that I like him any more, I just appreciate Woody more?

Hallelujah!
After years of getting a taste of his own medicine, Eddy "The Cannibal" Merckx has finally been spit out by the creature that devoured him!

Part B (or, Just Because You're Better Than Me Doesn't Mean I'm Lazy)
Early in High School I watched the U2 at Red Rocks video endlessly, as well as listened to WFMU and WPRB, even compiling a list called "Bands You've Never Heard of" and showing it to my friends. Paul had heard of many of them, Ned Stroh, John Skeehan and Chris Rogers knew even more (he was in a hardcore band that played at CBGBs some Saturday afternoons). On the list were Robyn Hitchcock, XTC, Dead Kennedys, Camper Van Beethoven, Guided By Voices, et al. I would lay in bed with my walkman and listen ever so carefully, imagining what Edge might be doing on his guitar. I think it was my junior or senior year that Chris let me borrow an old bass--a generic Precision knock-off with a bass fish sticker on it and a little practice amp. I played little note exercises once in a while but did very little with it until he asked for it back.
In art school me and some buddies formed a "band" and went instrument shopping. In those days there didn't seem to be decent quality generic instruments--either utter crapulence or Gibsons, so our group stalled and withered and died. When I graduated from college in 1991 I bought the Washburn (and put a nasty deep scratch in the side on, like, day 2) and even took a few lessons. A few years later I sent it to my brother and he or whoever played it put some big scratches in the pickguard. In 2000 I demanded it back, much to Matthew's grumbling. I started with a lesson book then and played to Sam early every morning when he was a puking infant. He laid on the floor on his back, I sat on the couch. I fiddled with it off and on for next couple years and in 2003 started to use it more deliberately. I still can barely read standard notation, tab just annoys me, and keeping time is a bit of an issue (though when it's just me I don't notice any problems!). But I'm having a ton of fun and there is immense satisfaction even in sort of not quite getting it all right. I don't think I'll ever be "good", but I will enjoy myself.
So there, Mrs Luck.


Robyn and Kimberly at the Double Door in Chicago, 2002

The Non-History of My Un-Musical Career (or, Much Ado About Nothing), Part 1
I remember it well, as I believe it scarred me for life.
It all started in the fourth grade. In the Fall of that year, as was traditional, all students were issued flutaphone/recorder thingies. We would work with them in Music and were supposed to practice little ditties at home. I remember having an especially hard time with that bugger, as my right-hand coordination was sorely lacking at the time (due to my superior left-handedness). So I didn't pass whatever muster there was. So that meant I was not allowed to start with a string intrument. If I wanted to I would presumably have been allowed to start with something brass or woodwind-y in fifth grade, like everyone else. But I felt I had been wronged by Mrs Luck (her real name), who also didn't appreciate my habit of singing alternate lyrics to songs at the top of my lungs. Tensions rose and by sixth grade it was open warfare. And it all centered around the guitar. That was the instrument of the year. We were supposed to strum little folk songs for a recital for the school and parents. I knew that guitars could be made left-handed (Paul had one!) and asked if she could please fix it for me. She refused and told me to play it like everyone else. Well, I tried to play it upside-down, but that didn't work too well for me. Most of the time in class I just sat through the rehearsals doing nothing and getting pedagogical dirty looks. When it came time for the school recital I sat in the front row with my friend Paul Albrecht and when the playing was supposed to start I flipped my guitar the other way and sat there. Mrs Luck gestured frustration at me, but I just put my hands up to say that there was something wrong. I think I was secretly hoping the principal or a parent would insist we all stop so that my needs could be addressed and I would have my chance to publicly expose Mrs Luck for the heartless ogre I knew she was (at least to me). Alas, no such chance came, and I looked like a fool. For the shame she foisted upon me I made Music class a miserable experience for her. Of course, what happened was that I got kicked out of Music for the rest of the year. I heard she retired a few years after I left Fernbrook Elementary School.

I've Tried My Little Try and I've Cried My Little Cry
Labor Day weekend always seems to live up to its name. So far I've done landscaping, furniture refinishing, wall preparation for painting, a big old cookout, and even some work for work. My hands are blistered from the shovel. My ear is sore from where the sweat and my glasses met all day. My legs are sore from not riding my bike. (Funny, that, that your legs get sore when you don't ride. At least stiff.)

Things to look forward to:
1. The Decemberists in Cleveland in a few weeks.
2. The Decemberists in Columbus a few weeks after that.
3. Robyn Hitchcock in Cleveland a few weeks after that.
4. Birthday (36) [well, maybe not...]
5. Anniversary (11) [here, I am supposed to say nice things]
6. A raise ? HA!

Hitsville, USA
I'm busily preparing the Christmas song I came up with last year. So it'll be ready for the holidays. I've fiddled with the lyrics just a bit, plus I still have to make a nifty little bridge, as well as the rest of the arrangement.

I actually have no idea what I'm doing.

But I did find a cool guitar pick.

(I sent some out to my friends. Perhaps you'll be receiving one soon.)

The I'm Not Crazy Dept.
The other night I thought I saw something grey move swiftly under a shelf. When I checked all I could find was a grey-ish guitar pick. "OK," I thought, "It must be time to go to bed, if I think I'm seeing mice in the corners."
Well, this morning I was in the shower when I heard a blood-curdling scream (from Lauran). She announced that a mouse was in the hall closet. "Good," I said, "Now we know where to catch it." She and Sam ran in the opposite direction.
When I got dressed I promptly snatched the little creature and placed him in the woods outside.
So I'm not crazy, but I do have to ask: Why is a mouse bad but a hamster good?

I Dream of Being a Master-booter
Roughly following Gavin's advice, I am prepared to make my own clandestine recordings of the new Decemberists shows. I got one of those flash memory digital recorders from OfficeSlax (I had a big old gift card, so it only cost me $11), and did some tests. I talked a little. Played some guitar. Recorded music from a stereo with and without a microphone, etc. The device in question is tiny--it looks sorta like a little teeny cell phone, so hopefully I won't get noticed. Maybe the microphone clipped to my body will be invisible? Anyway, the tracks clean up real nice in GarageBand, so hopefully I'll have some decent quality shows to offer the other Brigadeers. I just have to decide whether to use the High Quality setting (88 mins) or the middle quality setting (2+ hours). Every live show I have now fits on 1 CD, so that means they're a bit under 80 mins. But I might want to record the whole evening, since Rachel's band, Norfolk & Western is supposed to be there, too.

It was Gavin's joke, BTW.