Posted December 20, 2006, 12:20 pm. Permalink
Lots of Circles
Standing in my mom’s kitchen, making a grilled cheese sandwich or two for lunch, I’m listening to “Pure Heat” by The Mountain goats. As I bite into the sourdough bread, made golden with fried soy-based “buttery spread”, I consider the nutritional value of the food I’m eating. Proteins, carbohydrates, sodium? I wikipedia “source of protein” and the first hit I get is “Protein Source of the Future…Now!”, which was the title of the Mountain Goats album I was listening to at the time.
Out my mom’s kitchen window I can see the pool, with a buoyed hose making on large “C” across the surface. Ripples coming off of concave side of the hose are all moving together, towards one point, and then outwards from that point in a convex formation. As if a pebble had been dropped in to the water at the center of the semi-circle formed by the hose, and half of the ripples formed were acting in reverse, waves of rarefaction and compression coalescing into the point of entry, and the other half moving out again, spreading in their even circular way across the water.
Posted December 16, 2006, 12:48 am. Permalink
And
now I’m even older.
Posted December 14, 2006, 11:51 am. Permalink
Let's go to print.
Production is in full swing. 12 done, only 188 more to go…
Posted December 12, 2006, 7:03 pm. Permalink
Done....almost.
I finished re-recording some tracks and mastering others for ‘Interstate 80’ today. All the final versions are now available on my Archive page in all their 192kbps of stereo glory. I’m also almost done making the master CD sleeve, and as soon as I get a bit more art out of Zack I can pass it on to the printer. I feel good making free music. I made sure to include mention of the Creative Commons licensing on the CD sleeve, and I’m glad I found a method of making CDs that is cheap enough that I don’t starve if I want to give them away.
Made plans with Goldy and Jonny E. today, and I’ve got two shows lined up in January. It will be the most glorious East Coast Return Tour I’ve ever been on. I’d like to play a show in SO/MP too, since I know it can be hard for most of those kids to get out to NY or even Flemington.
Fraptuous day, kahlou, kahlei.
Posted December 12, 2006, 2:39 am. Permalink
Title track?
I-80 [mp3]
When the blue ridge mountains fill the horizon
I will know, I’m not far from home
A yellow painted line weaves back and forth on the pavement
It is broken, but will lead me back to you
How many gallons of gasoline and roadside diners
Will It take, to fuel me on my way
Five days out and I’m running dry
Almost home, and almost by your side
And all I want is the time
to sit by you
And watch somebody else traveling by
And all I’ll ask, is if you’re mine
When the blue ridge mountains fade from view
I’ll feel their weight, we’ll both be blue
A yellow painted line weaves back and forth on the pavement
It’s sympathetic, and we’re both broken
How many gallons of gasoline and roadside diners
Will I forsake, if I forget your face
Five days out and I’m running dry
Too far from home, I wonder if you feel that too
This song is very far from the punk rock influences I’d like to think are more apparent in songs like ‘Birds & Bombs’ or ‘Dynamite’. I sort of croon parts of the lyrics, it’s fun. After recording this track, I feel really good about closing the ‘Interstate 80’ album. 10 tracks is enough, and I think this last one offers some closure on the theme. I also think the quality of my recordings is improving, and I think when the opportunity presents itself, I will re-record all 10 tracks of ‘Interstate 80’ in one sitting, in order to achieve a more balanced sound throughout. Hopefully the room mate will be absent tomorrow, and I’ll have the “studio” all to myself.
Posted December 9, 2006, 10:30 pm. Permalink
Guitarrorist
I was supposed to prepare for some of my finals today. I was also supposed to have writers block. Then, what do you know, I wrote a new song. So uh, “Go eat a dick, Truancy Bot!”
It’s called Dynamite, here are the lyrics:
Dynamite
You’re dynamite
And a laser beam and
I want to smuggle you
Across state lines
I’ll set you off
In a public place
And watch the crowds
Joy coming out the face
You’re gasoline
And wedding rice
Puppy dog tails
And cinnamon spice
I’ll turn you on
In the mall
And watch the cops
Lose control of it all
And Philadelphia
Will burn down one of these days
You’ll be the only one who makes it
And I’ll know why
I also wrote a song about oranges a few days ago:
Dressed in Orange
Leaning back in his chair dangerously
With a pile of orange peels in his lap
His fingers smell like the oils
And if it gets in his eyes he’ll cry
But she was delicious
What of these fruits with no seeds
What do they grow from any way
A tree that never dies
This is what history could taste like
And she was so delicious
And I love these oranges
And I love these oranges to death
Both of these fresh tracks are now available on the Meat Machine page over on the Internet Archive. I refreshed the page today, and the full lineup now includes the demo I recorded with Tom, a bunch of covers I did for fun, and several tracks from the new album. This, my first full length release, is tentatively titled “Interstate 80”. I can’t decide if I want to re-record all of the tracks for the new album in one sitting to achieve a more homogeneous mix, or if I like the sonic variety.
Posted December 9, 2006, 5:54 pm. Permalink
Bands I ought start.
“No. 2 & the Questionnaires”
-needs some cello, needs some bass, needs some ass kicking drums, needs a lady voice.
Posted December 9, 2006, 2:27 am. Permalink
Wrd.
Word words words, ohmygosh, and books!
In my eighteen (almost nineteen) years of research, I’ve witnessed the immense power of words, and their strength in bindings. I’ve always considered my brother more of a precocious reader than I, and I do believe that we both uplift our father on the highest pedestal, constructed entirely out of the seemingly endless volumes he has consumed. I appreciate deft wordplay, though I have no doubt that the higher forms of the art would gracefully pass over my head, if not cause it to burst. I like words that sound pretty.
As a first-year college student, a disciple of academia, I believe it falls upon me now to make damn sure that I don’t leave this institution without a better understanding of what can happen between pages. Though it may just be the stark absence of a social life that affords me this willingness to whittle away the hours, I do intend get me some culture.
For example, I’ve oft heard that Mark Twain is a generally swell author, but I don’t think I’ve ever read anything by him. I know I read ‘Silent Spring’ years ago, for some well-meaning book report, but I don’t remember a damn thing worth mentioning.
I’ll be reading more, for reals this time.
Additionally: Wordie! “Like Flickr, but without the photos.” (Stolen from Unfogged (stolen from TechCrunch))
Posted December 7, 2006, 1:48 pm. Permalink
Declar'd!
It appears I’ll be following the greats in a tragic downward spiral of ethics, logic, reason, and critical thinking. I am now on the CSU Chico books as a Philosophy major, minor in Outdoor Education. Surely my decision was influenced by the Philosophy Department’s pamphlet, which expressed their complex and compelling mantra, “Think about it.” If only this study wasn’t regarded as the little bitch of the sciences.
So internet, what’s new in the area of land ethics in the past half century?
