On this day of widespread cultural propagation of bullshit stereotypes and false boundaries related to love and romance, I sometimes find myself frustrated (if you can imagine). As a non-partnered person, the pressure to couple up can be a bit stifling, especially since even my wee black heart has internalized some of those mythologies...plus, the truth is that I would actually like to build a stable long term partnership someday, and that's been a stalled process lately, what with my own mental/emotional fragility.
I know, however, that I am surrounded by love - family and friends, for starters. Today, though, I want to talk about my soulmate. Because if love is that thing that brings you to your best, highest, transcendant self....then music is my soulmate.
I remember with startling clarity the first time I got an inkling of how important music was to me. It was a winter day, and my mom, my brother, my sister, and I were on the highway to the university where my mom needed to hit the computer lab to do some homework. We were in the pea green Chevy Nova my mom drove at the time; I remember the snow-covered fields of semi-rural Michigan rolling past outside the windows. I had scored the front seat, and I was singing a very silly song I had just learned in music class (this one, if you're interested). I loved the song, and I loved singing it.
My mom, however, did not share my love of me singing it. The words - and I'll never, ever forget them - she used were: "couldn't carry a tune in a bushel basket." Those words hit me in a pretty squishy place, as if they were trying to suck out a piece of my soul.
Many years later, after spending most of the intervening years learning how to sing properly and making music one of the best and happiest parts of my life, I tried to give it up. I went to college to be an engineer, and between classes and homework and two work study jobs to pay for what my scholarships didn't cover, I didn't have time for music of any kind, let alone the time and energy it takes to rehearse, perform, or otherwise create music. This was before the days of constant iPod companionship, so I didn't even listen to much music...the best I could do for music was VH1 on my tiny black and white TV in my dorm room, or my equally diminutive tape collection, courtesy of a brief Columbia House memebership. (Ye gods, how old AM I??)
There were a lot of things that contributed to my eventually dropping out of college...but the biggest qualitative difference? Music. After I dropped out, I bought my first guitar and started teaching myself to play it. I studied different styles of singing and performing (to expand my choral/classical background), and I took the first baby steps toward what I would eventually consider to be the closest thing to a life purpose I can imagine for myself.
The first time I ever played a song I wrote in public, it was a revelation. I'd been performing in various kinds of shows since I was a little kid, but to perform something that - start to finish - came out of me....was so much more intense - and it felt so completely right and natural, in a way very few things in my life ever have.
Often when I am playing (whether for an audience or not), I lose myself completely in what I'm doing. I used to call it "stage blackout," but I think it's actually something like a peak experience. I think of it as being so present with what I'm doing that the internal running commentary, whatever it is that catalogues my activities for future review, stops working. The downside is that I don't really have clear memories of my some of my performances, but the upside is that nothing makes me feel more wholly myself, more completely where I am "supposed to be" doing what I'm "supposed to do" than making music.
There's an ad campaign for Breedlove guitars (which are, incidentally, fucking gorgeous) that says "Who says your soulmate has to be a man or a woman?" and sometimes I really get that. I've had feelings for people before, and likely will again; maybe someday I'll find a partnership that works for me in the long term, though that's not something I can plan for. Music, though, is always there, and always takes what I give and returns it many times over. And that, to me, is real love.
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
2.14.2011
10.14.2010
Thoughts on Making Music: The Art of Craft, and Snobbery
This is long and rambly and less cogent than I would like. But I'm tired, and I want to express my opinion, finish my late lunch, take a sleeping pill, and go to bed....so mmmmmmfuckit, I'm posting away. Like it or not, people!
I recently came across a couple unrelated pieces of commentary from sources I respect, lamenting various aspects of the State of Music Today. Technology has progressed so much that any-ol'-body with a laptop can crank out a record. Our new-thing-is-the-new-old-thing consumerist flavor-of-the-moment culture pressures musicians to make lots and lots and lots of music all the time. A new album every year! Plus bonus content! And website freebies in between! Plus live cuts! Plus design tee shirts! Plus tweet and Facebook and cross-promote and network and street team and yada yada yada.
And all of this is why we have so little truly good music, with the staying power to be listened to for decades versus days. We have quantity, but very little quality.
I mean, don't get me wrong. I know there's a lot of crap music being foisted on the unsuspecting masses. I've been making my own music for a decade, and I have seen performers who couldn't carry a tune, strum a chord, or string together a coherent lyric...and somehow still manage to assemble the nerve to get up in front of an audience and do their thing. (I will try not get into the sidebar discussions about the subjective nature of taste - I mean, I love bagpipes - or the capriciousness of musical success - which I firmly believe is 5% talent, 10% work, and 85% pure luck.)
I've also spent a fair amount of time combing through various sources in search of new music for my own listening enjoyment - particularly places like garageband.com (now defunct), Amie Street (now defunct), and the old mp3.com (also now defunct), where indie musicians could share their material without paying through the nose. I have listened to a lot of random tunes over the years, and I have found some really amazing stuff....but I've stumbled onto way more mediocre-to-awful stuff.
So, yes. Point taken that the instant nature of the internet and the relative availability of the means to produce and distribute music have made a lot more crap a lot more easily available to a lot more people on a lot shorter timeline. A profit-driven music industry has encouraged this because more new music means more money to be made, especially if the big labels aren't shilling out on the front end. Toss on top of it a music blogging scene that puts every blogger on the hunt for a fresh discovery and the ego stroke that comes of finding that ever-elusive needle in an ever-growing haystack? Well, it's not exactly an environment that rewards musicians willing to study, hone their craft, and lavish extensive time on creating music - especially not the kind of music that is universal and classic and stands the test of time (which, for purposes of this ramble, we're going to use as the definition of Great Music).
But the world of music is not so small that there isn't room for diversity in more than just genre. I mean, I think Van Gogh's Starry Night is the most beautiful painting I have ever seen with my own eyes. It stole my breath and left me in tears, and seeing it was one of the most vivid experiences of my life. In my apartment, though, I have a piece of glass artwork, carved in a damask pattern in black and silver, made by a local artisan. Is it as beautiful as Starry Night? No. Does it make me cry when I see it hanging on the wall every day? No. Does it have less value in my life? Tough call....but I know that I like it enough to display it in my home, and that has worth. There's room for lots of different types of art and beauty, and they are all valuable in their different ways....and the same is true for music.
Which is my way of saying there's room for one-hit-wonders and cheesy pop songs and mediocre bubblegum. A songwriter friend of mine used to tell herself, whenever she was feeling like her lyrics weren't meaningful or elegant enough, "She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah." I mean, even Lennon & McCartney didn't write nothing but "Yesterday." Hell, my fave songwriter of all time wrote both "Time in a Bottle" *and* "Rapid Roy, the Stock Car Boy." A songwriter's catalog is likely to be as diverse as their experience....which, you know, goes for music in general, as well. Art, life, yada yada.
There's a kind of snobbery that I see in a lot of this sort of conversation about the arts, and often it comes down to the idea that, essentially, there's "good" and "bad" art. There's art that has value (the Mona Lisa! Swan Lake! Kandinsky! Shakespeare! art house flicks! Beethoven! etc.), and art that is...disposable? Less meaningful? Lower brow? (Dogs Playing Poker, comic books, Britney Spears, stand up comedy, romance novels, boy bands, action films, etc.)
I know this snobbery exists because I fight the inclination in myself, particularly when someone mentions singing karaoke. But I recognize that that's my ego talking. I want to feel superior because I've put in time and effort in service of my art. I want to feel like I've somehow earned superiority. And that is total crap.
Art is subjective, in both the creation and consumption. There is no One True Way to make music (or any other art), any more than there is only One True Kind of music to enjoy. The beauty of this diversity lies not only in the way people can sift through the maelstrom to find the creations that speak to them in the voice they want to hear....but also in the way different processes of creation can develop. Some artists need or prefer or have the *luxury* of hiding in a cabin for two years creating their masterwork...and some take whatever demo their manager hands them and spend twenty minutes pouring it into a microphone to be Auto-Tuned and compressed into submission in the mix. Much as I'm sure my own personal biases show in the way I phrased that...I don't believe that one of these is a more valid way to make art, or yields music that is inherently more worthy than the other.
One of my least favorite aspects of this bullshit hierarchy is the concept of a guilty pleasure. You know, stuff you really like, but don't want to admit to liking because some invisible authority looks down on it for some reason. Anybody who's seen me roll my eyes at the slickly over-produced electronically-augmented "perfection" of Glee knows that I sometimes instinctively buy into that invisible authority myself....but since I have paid money for music by Hanson, the Spice Girls, Garth Brooks, Debbie Gibson, Chumbawumba, and the Black Eyed Peas, I'm not sure why I have it in for the latest incarnation of Pop Music Goodness. Obviously there are times when slick and overproduced don't bother me at all. (Say it with me: taste is subjective.)
When I play out, I tend to get a lot of positive feedback. My singing, in particular, tends to garner me a lot of compliments, and one of the things I tell people is that a lot of my vocal skill is the result of training. "Anyone could do it," I say, "if they spent ten years learning how." I really do believe that is true, but I'll tell you what I believe that is more important: I think people should feel free to sing even if they haven't studied it for ten years. I think people should feel free to make music even if they can't carry a tune, strum a chord, or string together a coherent lyric. I think making music is a birthright of the human race, and that anybody should make it if they feel like it, regardless of whether they're "good" at it, or if the music they make appeals to anyone else. I think that music, whether I actually like it or not, is just as valid and valuable and worthy as the music I make.
Furthermore, it's this bullshit hierarchy, this idea that there's "good" and "bad" art, that keeps so many people from expressing their creativity. It keeps art of all kinds from being considered as vital to education as math or science or geography or language. It keeps people from trying, from taking creative risks, from exploring the full extent of their own potential as human beings.
There is value in studying a craft and learning from what others have done. There is also value in following inspiration, regardless of precedent. Excluding either diminishes the whole.
Case in point: any asshole can write a blog.
I recently came across a couple unrelated pieces of commentary from sources I respect, lamenting various aspects of the State of Music Today. Technology has progressed so much that any-ol'-body with a laptop can crank out a record. Our new-thing-is-the-new-old-thing consumerist flavor-of-the-moment culture pressures musicians to make lots and lots and lots of music all the time. A new album every year! Plus bonus content! And website freebies in between! Plus live cuts! Plus design tee shirts! Plus tweet and Facebook and cross-promote and network and street team and yada yada yada.
And all of this is why we have so little truly good music, with the staying power to be listened to for decades versus days. We have quantity, but very little quality.
I mean, don't get me wrong. I know there's a lot of crap music being foisted on the unsuspecting masses. I've been making my own music for a decade, and I have seen performers who couldn't carry a tune, strum a chord, or string together a coherent lyric...and somehow still manage to assemble the nerve to get up in front of an audience and do their thing. (I will try not get into the sidebar discussions about the subjective nature of taste - I mean, I love bagpipes - or the capriciousness of musical success - which I firmly believe is 5% talent, 10% work, and 85% pure luck.)
I've also spent a fair amount of time combing through various sources in search of new music for my own listening enjoyment - particularly places like garageband.com (now defunct), Amie Street (now defunct), and the old mp3.com (also now defunct), where indie musicians could share their material without paying through the nose. I have listened to a lot of random tunes over the years, and I have found some really amazing stuff....but I've stumbled onto way more mediocre-to-awful stuff.
So, yes. Point taken that the instant nature of the internet and the relative availability of the means to produce and distribute music have made a lot more crap a lot more easily available to a lot more people on a lot shorter timeline. A profit-driven music industry has encouraged this because more new music means more money to be made, especially if the big labels aren't shilling out on the front end. Toss on top of it a music blogging scene that puts every blogger on the hunt for a fresh discovery and the ego stroke that comes of finding that ever-elusive needle in an ever-growing haystack? Well, it's not exactly an environment that rewards musicians willing to study, hone their craft, and lavish extensive time on creating music - especially not the kind of music that is universal and classic and stands the test of time (which, for purposes of this ramble, we're going to use as the definition of Great Music).
But the world of music is not so small that there isn't room for diversity in more than just genre. I mean, I think Van Gogh's Starry Night is the most beautiful painting I have ever seen with my own eyes. It stole my breath and left me in tears, and seeing it was one of the most vivid experiences of my life. In my apartment, though, I have a piece of glass artwork, carved in a damask pattern in black and silver, made by a local artisan. Is it as beautiful as Starry Night? No. Does it make me cry when I see it hanging on the wall every day? No. Does it have less value in my life? Tough call....but I know that I like it enough to display it in my home, and that has worth. There's room for lots of different types of art and beauty, and they are all valuable in their different ways....and the same is true for music.
Which is my way of saying there's room for one-hit-wonders and cheesy pop songs and mediocre bubblegum. A songwriter friend of mine used to tell herself, whenever she was feeling like her lyrics weren't meaningful or elegant enough, "She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah." I mean, even Lennon & McCartney didn't write nothing but "Yesterday." Hell, my fave songwriter of all time wrote both "Time in a Bottle" *and* "Rapid Roy, the Stock Car Boy." A songwriter's catalog is likely to be as diverse as their experience....which, you know, goes for music in general, as well. Art, life, yada yada.
There's a kind of snobbery that I see in a lot of this sort of conversation about the arts, and often it comes down to the idea that, essentially, there's "good" and "bad" art. There's art that has value (the Mona Lisa! Swan Lake! Kandinsky! Shakespeare! art house flicks! Beethoven! etc.), and art that is...disposable? Less meaningful? Lower brow? (Dogs Playing Poker, comic books, Britney Spears, stand up comedy, romance novels, boy bands, action films, etc.)
I know this snobbery exists because I fight the inclination in myself, particularly when someone mentions singing karaoke. But I recognize that that's my ego talking. I want to feel superior because I've put in time and effort in service of my art. I want to feel like I've somehow earned superiority. And that is total crap.
Art is subjective, in both the creation and consumption. There is no One True Way to make music (or any other art), any more than there is only One True Kind of music to enjoy. The beauty of this diversity lies not only in the way people can sift through the maelstrom to find the creations that speak to them in the voice they want to hear....but also in the way different processes of creation can develop. Some artists need or prefer or have the *luxury* of hiding in a cabin for two years creating their masterwork...and some take whatever demo their manager hands them and spend twenty minutes pouring it into a microphone to be Auto-Tuned and compressed into submission in the mix. Much as I'm sure my own personal biases show in the way I phrased that...I don't believe that one of these is a more valid way to make art, or yields music that is inherently more worthy than the other.
One of my least favorite aspects of this bullshit hierarchy is the concept of a guilty pleasure. You know, stuff you really like, but don't want to admit to liking because some invisible authority looks down on it for some reason. Anybody who's seen me roll my eyes at the slickly over-produced electronically-augmented "perfection" of Glee knows that I sometimes instinctively buy into that invisible authority myself....but since I have paid money for music by Hanson, the Spice Girls, Garth Brooks, Debbie Gibson, Chumbawumba, and the Black Eyed Peas, I'm not sure why I have it in for the latest incarnation of Pop Music Goodness. Obviously there are times when slick and overproduced don't bother me at all. (Say it with me: taste is subjective.)
When I play out, I tend to get a lot of positive feedback. My singing, in particular, tends to garner me a lot of compliments, and one of the things I tell people is that a lot of my vocal skill is the result of training. "Anyone could do it," I say, "if they spent ten years learning how." I really do believe that is true, but I'll tell you what I believe that is more important: I think people should feel free to sing even if they haven't studied it for ten years. I think people should feel free to make music even if they can't carry a tune, strum a chord, or string together a coherent lyric. I think making music is a birthright of the human race, and that anybody should make it if they feel like it, regardless of whether they're "good" at it, or if the music they make appeals to anyone else. I think that music, whether I actually like it or not, is just as valid and valuable and worthy as the music I make.
Furthermore, it's this bullshit hierarchy, this idea that there's "good" and "bad" art, that keeps so many people from expressing their creativity. It keeps art of all kinds from being considered as vital to education as math or science or geography or language. It keeps people from trying, from taking creative risks, from exploring the full extent of their own potential as human beings.
There is value in studying a craft and learning from what others have done. There is also value in following inspiration, regardless of precedent. Excluding either diminishes the whole.
Case in point: any asshole can write a blog.
5.22.2009
Linkage.
La vida has been sort of weird and upsy-downsy lately. Mercury retrograde probably isn't helping, but it's also just the nature of plans changing and, you know, life happening in unexpected ways. C'est la vie! (So, lessee, that's "life" in three languages so far, eh?) Anyway, I've been spending a lot of time navel-gazing and trying to spread my intellectual recognition of how fucking lucky I am into a visceral and experiential understanding. It's not as easy as it sounds, I am finding.
Meanwhile, yesterday yielded some interesting stuff that I found by turns inspiring, motivating, and soothing. Some of it was meandering into Millennium Park for lunch, only to stumble into Serendipity, a performance troupe featuring various seniors performing (the bits I saw, anyway) some ass-kicking Motown soul music. "Stand By Me" was haunting me yesterday (which, of course, makes me want ot pull it out and whip up a version myself).
Also, last night at pottery class, I think I maybe made some stuff that doesn't suck. Though, you know, we'll see. Still has to be fired and glazed. I'll take pictures if it isn't butt ugly.
Other things that caught my eye and imagination and set my heart aflutter yesterday:
** T. Thorn Coyle, a capital-T Teacher whose work isn't mine (but whose integrity, humanity, taste, and hair I admire nonetheless), writes about...well, a lot of stuff: paganism, how sex-positivity interacts with sex education and the sacred, integrity and authority and, well, just go read it (yes, all of it!): Clay Feet, part one, Clay Feet, part two, and Clay Feet, part three.
** A link at Shakesville led me to Playing for Change, an organization that brings together musicians from all over the world to promote peace. I don't know how I have managed not to hear about this before, but I am blown away. I watched all the online episodes, and downloaded the electronic version of the CD posthaste (though I will likely also pick up the combo CD/DVD to get the documentary part). It's inspiring, but it also makes me want to write more protest songs....which, as anybody who knows me knows, I am not great at.
** This article at New York magazine (tweeted by @fingertipsmusic) talks interestingly about attention, meditation, and the idea that our experience is composed of whatever we pay attention to. Money quote: "It’s possible that we’re evolving toward a new techno-cognitive nomadism, in which restlessness will be an advantage." I should be so lucky, 'cause I pretty much find my own restlessness to be an advantage for fuck all.
** The Freak Revolution was recently launched by my friend Kyeli and her partner Pace. I like a lot of the ideas they've talked about so far....though I'm not sure that it quite fits what I'm working with in general, or where I am right now. Having said that, totally worth checking out, just as one more way to shift away from the dominant (crap) paradigm!
....and thus concludes this friendly, neighborhood linkage. Happy weekend, y'all!
Meanwhile, yesterday yielded some interesting stuff that I found by turns inspiring, motivating, and soothing. Some of it was meandering into Millennium Park for lunch, only to stumble into Serendipity, a performance troupe featuring various seniors performing (the bits I saw, anyway) some ass-kicking Motown soul music. "Stand By Me" was haunting me yesterday (which, of course, makes me want ot pull it out and whip up a version myself).
Also, last night at pottery class, I think I maybe made some stuff that doesn't suck. Though, you know, we'll see. Still has to be fired and glazed. I'll take pictures if it isn't butt ugly.
Other things that caught my eye and imagination and set my heart aflutter yesterday:
** T. Thorn Coyle, a capital-T Teacher whose work isn't mine (but whose integrity, humanity, taste, and hair I admire nonetheless), writes about...well, a lot of stuff: paganism, how sex-positivity interacts with sex education and the sacred, integrity and authority and, well, just go read it (yes, all of it!): Clay Feet, part one, Clay Feet, part two, and Clay Feet, part three.
** A link at Shakesville led me to Playing for Change, an organization that brings together musicians from all over the world to promote peace. I don't know how I have managed not to hear about this before, but I am blown away. I watched all the online episodes, and downloaded the electronic version of the CD posthaste (though I will likely also pick up the combo CD/DVD to get the documentary part). It's inspiring, but it also makes me want to write more protest songs....which, as anybody who knows me knows, I am not great at.
** This article at New York magazine (tweeted by @fingertipsmusic) talks interestingly about attention, meditation, and the idea that our experience is composed of whatever we pay attention to. Money quote: "It’s possible that we’re evolving toward a new techno-cognitive nomadism, in which restlessness will be an advantage." I should be so lucky, 'cause I pretty much find my own restlessness to be an advantage for fuck all.
** The Freak Revolution was recently launched by my friend Kyeli and her partner Pace. I like a lot of the ideas they've talked about so far....though I'm not sure that it quite fits what I'm working with in general, or where I am right now. Having said that, totally worth checking out, just as one more way to shift away from the dominant (crap) paradigm!
....and thus concludes this friendly, neighborhood linkage. Happy weekend, y'all!
5.05.2009
What's goin' on?
Holy cats, boys and girls and other-gendered beings! Things is flyin' fast and furious 'round these here parts...and certain people are apparently taking advantage of this fact to play fast and loose with things like proper grammar.
Meanwhile.
What's going on with me these days is a whole helluva lot. Allow me to bullet point:
* SFSV is going well in some ways, less well in others. I've got a lot going on that I can't really set aside just now, so I'm still carrying some stress (mostly job-related stuff, which is what it is in this financial climate). I have, however, started the pottery classes (well, class, since I've just had one so far) - which I really am enjoying. I have to be careful, since this is yet another thing that stresses out my thumb-based tendonitis...but I think I can adapt the process to make it bearable. Plus, just the idea of making my own vessels and dishes and such is way exciting - and we haven't even gotten to the wheel-throwing bits yet (tonight!!). I start Italian classes in a couple weeks, and I'm debating taking some pricey sewing classes from a local designer that are apparently awesome enough to justify the price.
* This year, the garden is off to a faster start than last year. Assuming I don't come down with a mystery illness (knock wood), we should have a better harvest this time around. Remains to be seen whether I wind up avoiding the backyard because of the rabid mosquito population, or if the crops get enough sunlight. But! There are chickens (well, still more chicks than hens, but they're growing quickly), and that can only be a good thing.
* I'm now officially working on recording a real, live, actual, fancy-schmancy album, with a producer/engineer and studio musicians and everything. The process has just started, and I am excited to see how it shapes up. If all goes well, I should have a finished product ready to launch by the end of the summer. If you want to get in on the hooplah that will be associated with this, you may want to mark your calendar for something the last weekend in August...
So, that's the basics of what's going on. The next few months are busy like whoa, in the best way. I am sneaking in at least one trip up to the country estate to lounge in my dad's hammock under the apple tree, though, come hell or high water!
Important side note: For those who don't already know, awesome fat activist bloggers Kate Harding and Marianne Kirby wrote a book that was released this week. (Check it out at Powell's or Amazon or at Women & Children First if you're a Chicago local.) I've read Lessons from the Fat-o-sphere, and I can tell you it's really a delightful read. It's also a great introduction to Fat Acceptance, on both a personal and an activist level. So, you know, go buy it. Or get it from your library. Or borrow my copy if you know me.
Meanwhile.
What's going on with me these days is a whole helluva lot. Allow me to bullet point:
* SFSV is going well in some ways, less well in others. I've got a lot going on that I can't really set aside just now, so I'm still carrying some stress (mostly job-related stuff, which is what it is in this financial climate). I have, however, started the pottery classes (well, class, since I've just had one so far) - which I really am enjoying. I have to be careful, since this is yet another thing that stresses out my thumb-based tendonitis...but I think I can adapt the process to make it bearable. Plus, just the idea of making my own vessels and dishes and such is way exciting - and we haven't even gotten to the wheel-throwing bits yet (tonight!!). I start Italian classes in a couple weeks, and I'm debating taking some pricey sewing classes from a local designer that are apparently awesome enough to justify the price.
* This year, the garden is off to a faster start than last year. Assuming I don't come down with a mystery illness (knock wood), we should have a better harvest this time around. Remains to be seen whether I wind up avoiding the backyard because of the rabid mosquito population, or if the crops get enough sunlight. But! There are chickens (well, still more chicks than hens, but they're growing quickly), and that can only be a good thing.
* I'm now officially working on recording a real, live, actual, fancy-schmancy album, with a producer/engineer and studio musicians and everything. The process has just started, and I am excited to see how it shapes up. If all goes well, I should have a finished product ready to launch by the end of the summer. If you want to get in on the hooplah that will be associated with this, you may want to mark your calendar for something the last weekend in August...
So, that's the basics of what's going on. The next few months are busy like whoa, in the best way. I am sneaking in at least one trip up to the country estate to lounge in my dad's hammock under the apple tree, though, come hell or high water!
Important side note: For those who don't already know, awesome fat activist bloggers Kate Harding and Marianne Kirby wrote a book that was released this week. (Check it out at Powell's or Amazon or at Women & Children First if you're a Chicago local.) I've read Lessons from the Fat-o-sphere, and I can tell you it's really a delightful read. It's also a great introduction to Fat Acceptance, on both a personal and an activist level. So, you know, go buy it. Or get it from your library. Or borrow my copy if you know me.
4.10.2009
Just this one thing.
Glen Hansard's performance of "Say It To Me Now" from the movie Once is maybe the most passionate vocal performance of a song I have ever heard via recording. If you haven't seen the movie, I recommend it....but even if you don't see the movie, listen to the song. I will send you the mp3 if you don't have it or can't find it.
3.26.2009
SFSV: the latest.
(So, I'm starting my summer vacay in spring. I know. Semantics, people.)
Two parts of the Stress Free Summer Vacay (SFSV) plan of action are taking a bunch of classes, and working on recording an album.
On the taking classes side, things are a bit dicey thus far....although Metromix was present with a TV camera to interview me about my experience, the drum class I planned to take may not pan out after all, due to low enrollment. (Seriously, if you have $95 to spare, live in Chicago, and have any interest in accompanying bellydancers, this is totally the right class! Click here and SIGN UP ASAP, or it's cancellation city.) Classes on the agenda a bit down the road: pottery at Lillstreet, Italian at Discovery Center, and maybe some workshops at Chicago Hot Glass. I may add another language or something, if the drum class doesn't pan out. We shall see.
On the music side of the house, I met a guitarist/engineer/producer last night that I'm going to be working with to sort out an album's worth of tunage and get it all laid down right and proper. No half-ass demo shit, no "adequate but not spectacular" shit...I'm going for polish, which means hiring other people to do the work that isn't songwriting and singing. The first step of that is done, and now I just have to funnel money and time into the project to wrap it up. I suspect it may take months. And I'm mostly okay with that.
In other news, I've sorted my feed reader with a Pollyanna filter, so hopefully I can stop worrying about the fucking fiscal disaster on Wall Street and start regrowing all the brain cells that were killed in the rage...
Two parts of the Stress Free Summer Vacay (SFSV) plan of action are taking a bunch of classes, and working on recording an album.
On the taking classes side, things are a bit dicey thus far....although Metromix was present with a TV camera to interview me about my experience, the drum class I planned to take may not pan out after all, due to low enrollment. (Seriously, if you have $95 to spare, live in Chicago, and have any interest in accompanying bellydancers, this is totally the right class! Click here and SIGN UP ASAP, or it's cancellation city.) Classes on the agenda a bit down the road: pottery at Lillstreet, Italian at Discovery Center, and maybe some workshops at Chicago Hot Glass. I may add another language or something, if the drum class doesn't pan out. We shall see.
On the music side of the house, I met a guitarist/engineer/producer last night that I'm going to be working with to sort out an album's worth of tunage and get it all laid down right and proper. No half-ass demo shit, no "adequate but not spectacular" shit...I'm going for polish, which means hiring other people to do the work that isn't songwriting and singing. The first step of that is done, and now I just have to funnel money and time into the project to wrap it up. I suspect it may take months. And I'm mostly okay with that.
In other news, I've sorted my feed reader with a Pollyanna filter, so hopefully I can stop worrying about the fucking fiscal disaster on Wall Street and start regrowing all the brain cells that were killed in the rage...
3.05.2009
Thinking about music.
So, I'm a bit of a musical commitment-phobe, as a listener. I dabble in just about everything - a little jazz, a little rap, a little classical, a lot of folk, some rock, some pop, some dancey-type-music (electronica? trip-hop? industrial? jungle? I don't even know the proper genres anymore), some Motown, a fair amount of pop-punk, some actual punk, and yes, folks, I even like the Country Music. Even, I shudder to admit, some of that crap kicked out by the Nashville Machine (Yes, they're soulless bastards who reduce what is a labor of love and inspiration for me, to a fucking assembly line....but sometimes an assembly line kicks out a quality product, too. Not everyone working there is a talentless hack.).
The digital music revolution has only made this tendency worse, for me. Now, I don't even have to buy or listen to a whole CD from one artist. I can preview and buy by the track, or read six gajillion music blogs and scope out new artists and the best tracks without doing the legwork myself (shout outs to Fingertips, my fave purveyor of 100% free-and-legal mp3s!). And, I can float from artist to artist and genre to genre, only getting the best of each.
Damn, that is awesome.
And, from the perspective of a musician, fucking scary as hell. I mean, my own experience trying to build a following and get people into my music....yeah, it's a full time job getting people to listen, and that's not even counting the making of the actual music. Or, you know, the day job I work so I can afford somewhere to make the music I'm trying to get people to listen to. This is where the old record labels came in and made it easy. They threw in money up front, and that meant musicians just had to walk in and make the music (of course, setting aside issues of who owned said music, and how it was made, and what it sounded like, and how it evolved, which is a whole other thorny issue). (Anyway.) My point, I suppose, is that without the record labels running the show (which is becoming more and more the case), the whole game changes.
I read this fucking brilliant post this morning, and was moved to tears and heartened and scared shitless all at the same time. Fun. Here's why:
That is a chilling statement right there, and it hits me in a sore spot. I make a lot of uneasy compromises in my life, trying to make space for all the things I believe and all the things I love and all the different weirdo pieces that make up Who I Am...and I worry sometimes that my failure to commit, really commit, to making a musical career isn't part of why mine is so stop-start-stutter-stop-start. I play and write almost constantly, I play gigs every couple months, I take baby steps wherever I can, wherever life has space for it, wherever I can push something to the side without losing my mind....but I haven't taken on the full time job of promoting myself and pushing myself and pounding the pavement the way I know is required of "making it," whatever that means in this Digital Age.
On the other hand, I don't even know that I want to make my living making music. I mean, sure, I love the idea of playing itinerant troubadour in my veggie-oil-powered RV...but would that kind of lifestyle even be sustainable? I don't know. Meanwhile, I'm trying to garner resources for a serious recording project, and fuck me if life doesn't keep making it fucking difficult as shit, between money or time or energy.
I don't really have smart things to say about this....that post just made me think about what I'm doing and why. Le sigh.
Getting back to my earlier point about me being a musical commitment-phobe, though, I recently stumbled onto Amie Street, which fucking rocks. Not only are we talking non-DRM files I can buy a la carte (sans eMusic's pesky monthly fee deal), there's no software to download, which are my major requirements for digital downloads I'm paying for. Track prices range from free to 98 cents, which is also awesome. I've been messing around with the site for a couple days, and just loving the hell out of it. I discovered a couple amazing tracks, plus found some new-to-me Dan Bern that has been blowing my mind. Also, Transglobal Underground, some of which I don't love....but some of which is so fucking groovy I can't stop drumming on my desk. Good times!
I will stop rambling aimlessly about musical things now. Back to your regularly scheduled day!
The digital music revolution has only made this tendency worse, for me. Now, I don't even have to buy or listen to a whole CD from one artist. I can preview and buy by the track, or read six gajillion music blogs and scope out new artists and the best tracks without doing the legwork myself (shout outs to Fingertips, my fave purveyor of 100% free-and-legal mp3s!). And, I can float from artist to artist and genre to genre, only getting the best of each.
Damn, that is awesome.
And, from the perspective of a musician, fucking scary as hell. I mean, my own experience trying to build a following and get people into my music....yeah, it's a full time job getting people to listen, and that's not even counting the making of the actual music. Or, you know, the day job I work so I can afford somewhere to make the music I'm trying to get people to listen to. This is where the old record labels came in and made it easy. They threw in money up front, and that meant musicians just had to walk in and make the music (of course, setting aside issues of who owned said music, and how it was made, and what it sounded like, and how it evolved, which is a whole other thorny issue). (Anyway.) My point, I suppose, is that without the record labels running the show (which is becoming more and more the case), the whole game changes.
I read this fucking brilliant post this morning, and was moved to tears and heartened and scared shitless all at the same time. Fun. Here's why:
Walk into the wilderness with me. If you believe in yourself, you’re never going to give up, you’re going to play until you make it. And believe me, if you put in all that time and no one is paying attention you will give up, that life is just too frustrating. But if you’ve got talent, you’ll see signposts along the way, enough positive feedback to keep you going.
That is a chilling statement right there, and it hits me in a sore spot. I make a lot of uneasy compromises in my life, trying to make space for all the things I believe and all the things I love and all the different weirdo pieces that make up Who I Am...and I worry sometimes that my failure to commit, really commit, to making a musical career isn't part of why mine is so stop-start-stutter-stop-start. I play and write almost constantly, I play gigs every couple months, I take baby steps wherever I can, wherever life has space for it, wherever I can push something to the side without losing my mind....but I haven't taken on the full time job of promoting myself and pushing myself and pounding the pavement the way I know is required of "making it," whatever that means in this Digital Age.
On the other hand, I don't even know that I want to make my living making music. I mean, sure, I love the idea of playing itinerant troubadour in my veggie-oil-powered RV...but would that kind of lifestyle even be sustainable? I don't know. Meanwhile, I'm trying to garner resources for a serious recording project, and fuck me if life doesn't keep making it fucking difficult as shit, between money or time or energy.
I don't really have smart things to say about this....that post just made me think about what I'm doing and why. Le sigh.
Getting back to my earlier point about me being a musical commitment-phobe, though, I recently stumbled onto Amie Street, which fucking rocks. Not only are we talking non-DRM files I can buy a la carte (sans eMusic's pesky monthly fee deal), there's no software to download, which are my major requirements for digital downloads I'm paying for. Track prices range from free to 98 cents, which is also awesome. I've been messing around with the site for a couple days, and just loving the hell out of it. I discovered a couple amazing tracks, plus found some new-to-me Dan Bern that has been blowing my mind. Also, Transglobal Underground, some of which I don't love....but some of which is so fucking groovy I can't stop drumming on my desk. Good times!
I will stop rambling aimlessly about musical things now. Back to your regularly scheduled day!
2.04.2009
GIG ALERT!
I know it's short notice, but I just booked for tomorrow night at Pick a Cup coffeehouse in Evanston. It's about a mile west of the Dempster Purple Line, at 1813 W. Dempster, but there's no cover (tips of course), a good lineup of players (in addition to open mic action should you want to try your hand), and ME! Show starts at 7:30.
I know the weather will be total balls, but it's Chicago (well, Evanston), dammit! It's the Midwest - we laugh in the face of nasty weather! HahahaHA! See you there.
I know the weather will be total balls, but it's Chicago (well, Evanston), dammit! It's the Midwest - we laugh in the face of nasty weather! HahahaHA! See you there.
1.27.2009
Today, in things that are fucked up...
Holy crap, I can't even believe this bullshit: Bill Gates has solved Africa!
Well, okay, he's figured out how to fix that whole problem they have of, like, starving all the time over there. They just need geneticaly modified seeds and lots and lots of agrichemicals (i.e., petrochemical fertilizer!). You know, so they can kick out bumper crops like farmers over here in the States do! 'Cause it's not like there are any negative consequences to that approach, especially not when rich corporations bring it to the tropics. Jeebus, Bill Gates, what is your deal?! Is it not bad enough that you sell buttloads of imperfect operating systems that bring blue screens and frustration* to people around the world....do you have to export crappy (environment-destroying) industrial farming, too?! (P.S. While it may be historically accurate, don't you think you could've found a better way to talk about the increase in crop yield due to petroleum-based mono-crop industrial agriculture than "Green Revolution"? 'Cause I dunno 'bout you, Bill, but I'm interested in a whole 'nother kinda Green Revolution these days...Plus, what the hell? USA, China, India, Africa: one of these things is not like the other.)
In fairness, though, this sentence in Bill's letter is spot fucking on:
In other news of the wackadoo, apparently someone's printing out the Shared Items from their Google Reader, and calling it a newspaper?? I saw one on the el this morning, and literally turned to my roomie and said, "I think they missed the point." Don't get me wrong, I love the tactile experience of printed media; I will probably always keep a magazine subscription or two, and you'll pry my books from my cold, dead hands. But. It makes zero sense to me to compile a bunch of blogs and print it out like a newspaper. Also? STOP NEEDLESSLY KILLING TREES, YOU THOUGHTLESS FUCKS! Read it on your damn laptop!
Another thing fueling my rage today: TreeHugger's "Vegetarians We Love," which is a list of *dudes* who don't eat meat. 'Cause, apparently, it is totally girly to not eat meat. Don't get me wrong, TreeHugger, I get that y'all are trying to show other dudes that not-eating-meat can totally be manly, since Joaquin Phoenix is totally a vegan and all....but excellent work ignoring the fact that food choices (should) have FUCK ALL to do with gender. And that guys need some kind of extra special prize for not guzzling steak at three meals a day.
Finally, to round out the sad state of the good, green earth and some of her fucked up peoples, it seems that Americans don't really buy this whole "climate change" business, and that if those of us who do buy it and give a damn are going to convince them to change, we're gonna have to dumb it down a bit, 'cause all that science talk is just confusing, or something. I know not everybody wants to pore over charts and data and read scientific studies which are, admittedly, often a little on the dry side...but the evidence is ubiquitous enough these days that we've already boiled it down to stuff like the penguins will all die and global warming is irreversible....I dunno how much less "science-y" it gets than those really plain statements, but apparently Jane Six-Pack still somehow thinks that's not a big deal. Ugh.
Le sigh. Okay, some good stuff to get the brain churning a bit: BFP & Jess' collab called (re)Thinking Walking, which is really interesting food for thought; a manifesto from Jeremy Schlosberg at Fingertips, who I find one of the smartest, fairest and most ethical music bloggers on the web; also, this bit about racism in SF&F is delightfully blunt.
The world is a complicated place, and I rarely find enough time to wrap my brain around even a small piece of it. But I keep trying.
_____________________________
* Note: I detest Microsoft only marginally less than I detest anything Apple-related. Just in case you were thinking I was a Mac person or something. *shudder*
Well, okay, he's figured out how to fix that whole problem they have of, like, starving all the time over there. They just need geneticaly modified seeds and lots and lots of agrichemicals (i.e., petrochemical fertilizer!). You know, so they can kick out bumper crops like farmers over here in the States do! 'Cause it's not like there are any negative consequences to that approach, especially not when rich corporations bring it to the tropics. Jeebus, Bill Gates, what is your deal?! Is it not bad enough that you sell buttloads of imperfect operating systems that bring blue screens and frustration* to people around the world....do you have to export crappy (environment-destroying) industrial farming, too?! (P.S. While it may be historically accurate, don't you think you could've found a better way to talk about the increase in crop yield due to petroleum-based mono-crop industrial agriculture than "Green Revolution"? 'Cause I dunno 'bout you, Bill, but I'm interested in a whole 'nother kinda Green Revolution these days...Plus, what the hell? USA, China, India, Africa: one of these things is not like the other.)
In fairness, though, this sentence in Bill's letter is spot fucking on:
It is interesting how often the impact of climate change is illustrated by talking about the problems the polar bears will face rather than the much greater number of poor people who will die unless significant investments are made to help them.I totally agree, Bill. I'm not sure, though, that expanding industrial farming techniques to countries that don't use them now will actually help this situation. In fact, I'm pretty darn sure it won't. Now, organic and permaculture resources? Whole different story.
In other news of the wackadoo, apparently someone's printing out the Shared Items from their Google Reader, and calling it a newspaper?? I saw one on the el this morning, and literally turned to my roomie and said, "I think they missed the point." Don't get me wrong, I love the tactile experience of printed media; I will probably always keep a magazine subscription or two, and you'll pry my books from my cold, dead hands. But. It makes zero sense to me to compile a bunch of blogs and print it out like a newspaper. Also? STOP NEEDLESSLY KILLING TREES, YOU THOUGHTLESS FUCKS! Read it on your damn laptop!
Another thing fueling my rage today: TreeHugger's "Vegetarians We Love," which is a list of *dudes* who don't eat meat. 'Cause, apparently, it is totally girly to not eat meat. Don't get me wrong, TreeHugger, I get that y'all are trying to show other dudes that not-eating-meat can totally be manly, since Joaquin Phoenix is totally a vegan and all....but excellent work ignoring the fact that food choices (should) have FUCK ALL to do with gender. And that guys need some kind of extra special prize for not guzzling steak at three meals a day.
Finally, to round out the sad state of the good, green earth and some of her fucked up peoples, it seems that Americans don't really buy this whole "climate change" business, and that if those of us who do buy it and give a damn are going to convince them to change, we're gonna have to dumb it down a bit, 'cause all that science talk is just confusing, or something. I know not everybody wants to pore over charts and data and read scientific studies which are, admittedly, often a little on the dry side...but the evidence is ubiquitous enough these days that we've already boiled it down to stuff like the penguins will all die and global warming is irreversible....I dunno how much less "science-y" it gets than those really plain statements, but apparently Jane Six-Pack still somehow thinks that's not a big deal. Ugh.
Le sigh. Okay, some good stuff to get the brain churning a bit: BFP & Jess' collab called (re)Thinking Walking, which is really interesting food for thought; a manifesto from Jeremy Schlosberg at Fingertips, who I find one of the smartest, fairest and most ethical music bloggers on the web; also, this bit about racism in SF&F is delightfully blunt.
The world is a complicated place, and I rarely find enough time to wrap my brain around even a small piece of it. But I keep trying.
_____________________________
* Note: I detest Microsoft only marginally less than I detest anything Apple-related. Just in case you were thinking I was a Mac person or something. *shudder*
1.14.2009
Other people's words.
I'm still reacclimating to being back at work after a week off. I don't really have brilliant, insightful, inspiring, or thought-provoking things to say today. Luckily, other people do:
Hillary Clinton's opening remarks during the hearings confirming her as the next Secretary of State:
Lesley at Fatshionista writes about lines and stuff, which is way more brilliant than my crap description makes it seem:
Blackspot / ReThinking Capitalism talks about reframing music labels:
Ryan Adams (an artist I dig on several levels) muses about stepping away from music:
Hillary Clinton's opening remarks during the hearings confirming her as the next Secretary of State:
Too often, we see the ills that plague us more clearly than the possibilities in front of us, but it is the real possibility of progress, of that better life free from fear and want and discord, that offers our most compelling message to the rest of the world.
Lesley at Fatshionista writes about lines and stuff, which is way more brilliant than my crap description makes it seem:
I was hurt by fatphobia. I was injured by dieting. It’s taken me years - and I am still working on it - to begin to recover; to begin to have a healthy concept of food and eating; to begin to love my body for being mine no matter its size; to learn to see myself reflected in a mirror, or a shop window, or in a photograph, and not cringe; to survive in a culture that stereotypes me as lazy, stupid, disgusting, immoral, out of control, and so forth. I was bent by all this, and am very fortunate I never broke. If I draw lines, it’s because I don’t want anyone else - my friends, my family, even total fucking strangers - to have to go through that shit, to hate themselves for it. I don’t want to get sucked back down into that vortex myself.
Blackspot / ReThinking Capitalism talks about reframing music labels:
Basically, the business aspect needs to be put much lower on the priority list in the music business. If all labels followed this theory, there wouldn’t be a need to emphasize the money-making aspect - it would come naturally out of the talent they have nurtured and promoted instead of the One-Hit-Wonders they have used and abused.
Ryan Adams (an artist I dig on several levels) muses about stepping away from music:
that is not love. love is being accepted for who you are. love is taking care of yourself and caring for others and dreaming out loud when it matters. not chasing rainbows. not hoping for some eventual collective sigh of approval which will never come. how did i ever think in those terms? i always knew better. thank goodness i know now how to be honest with myself.
12.23.2008
Happy Winter Holiday of Your Choice.
My mind is churning with things to babble about, but I haven't the time to properly pull them out and put them in any semblance of coherency. I'm filled with so many conflicting emotions, I can barely keep my head on straight. And the holidays....well, they can fuck right off this year. I want to fast forward a couple weeks.
I will say that I have happily discovered Joel Rakes, who not only has some tasty music out there to buy, but is also giving away some delightful holiday tunage for free on his website. It's good stuff - slightly twangy guy-with-a-guitar music, with some creative and interesting arrangements. Music is one of the few joys for me this season, so I'm happy to find something I really dig.
Meanwhile, something poetical to sum:
there is a smiling sadness
welling up within me
the corners of my mouth
are creaking
it is not regret
tugging at my brows
but bittersweet gratitude
for my mistakes
I will say that I have happily discovered Joel Rakes, who not only has some tasty music out there to buy, but is also giving away some delightful holiday tunage for free on his website. It's good stuff - slightly twangy guy-with-a-guitar music, with some creative and interesting arrangements. Music is one of the few joys for me this season, so I'm happy to find something I really dig.
Meanwhile, something poetical to sum:
there is a smiling sadness
welling up within me
the corners of my mouth
are creaking
it is not regret
tugging at my brows
but bittersweet gratitude
for my mistakes
12.09.2008
Bullet points.
* Yeah, the gov has been arrested. Here's my surprise face. Did anybody think it was anything but a matter of time before this dude was caught in something shady?
* Both The Mayer and Mraz are up for multiple Grammies. Yay!
* The show last night was...a Monday night show. Adding in everyone (Thanks Chris D.!) who showed up on my behalf, we had a total audience of three people. Sweet! Luckily there was bar staff and all the other performers to pad that number a little. I've played to smaller crowds, so this wasn't so bad. The other performers? Jayme Dawicki (piano driven pop with tasty harmonies and really slick arrangements) and Riely O'Connor (good ol' John Prine-y storytelling songwritery goodness!) - yay for funky spellings!
* I'm playing Risque Cafe in Wrigleyville tomorrow night. 9:30. It's free to get in, and they have $2 PBRs. Just saying.
* Also, I'm playing the holiday event at Lake Side Cafe, my fave veggie joint. This is vegetarian food that non-veggies will love; I personally prefer it to Chicago Diner, even. Anyway, the tix for the event are $19 in advance, and worth every penny....plus of course, I'll be playing after dinner.
* The website has been recently updated, with some free holiday mp3s on the front page...plus I posted up a recording of "Ode to an Ass Clown," the meanest, nastiest, cussingest bitter break up song I've ever heard. If you like that sort of thing.
* Both The Mayer and Mraz are up for multiple Grammies. Yay!
* The show last night was...a Monday night show. Adding in everyone (Thanks Chris D.!) who showed up on my behalf, we had a total audience of three people. Sweet! Luckily there was bar staff and all the other performers to pad that number a little. I've played to smaller crowds, so this wasn't so bad. The other performers? Jayme Dawicki (piano driven pop with tasty harmonies and really slick arrangements) and Riely O'Connor (good ol' John Prine-y storytelling songwritery goodness!) - yay for funky spellings!
* I'm playing Risque Cafe in Wrigleyville tomorrow night. 9:30. It's free to get in, and they have $2 PBRs. Just saying.
* Also, I'm playing the holiday event at Lake Side Cafe, my fave veggie joint. This is vegetarian food that non-veggies will love; I personally prefer it to Chicago Diner, even. Anyway, the tix for the event are $19 in advance, and worth every penny....plus of course, I'll be playing after dinner.
* The website has been recently updated, with some free holiday mp3s on the front page...plus I posted up a recording of "Ode to an Ass Clown," the meanest, nastiest, cussingest bitter break up song I've ever heard. If you like that sort of thing.
12.03.2008
Quick note: SHOWS!
So, I'm now rocking two acoustic showcases next week, in case you can't make one.
December 8th @ Silvie's
8:30 p.m. - No Cover (tips)
1902 W. Irving Park
(right off the Irving Park Brown Line stop)
December 10th @ Risque Cafe
9:30 p.m. - No Cover
3419 N. Clark
(right off the Addison Red Line stop)
Come on out, hear some tunes, drink some beers.
I'm also working on getting into Lake Side Cafe's holiday buffet on December 18th ....but that's not confirmed yet. I'll keep you posted.
December 8th @ Silvie's
8:30 p.m. - No Cover (tips)
1902 W. Irving Park
(right off the Irving Park Brown Line stop)
December 10th @ Risque Cafe
9:30 p.m. - No Cover
3419 N. Clark
(right off the Addison Red Line stop)
Come on out, hear some tunes, drink some beers.
I'm also working on getting into Lake Side Cafe's holiday buffet on December 18th ....but that's not confirmed yet. I'll keep you posted.
11.24.2008
State of the Tari: Update.
So, you know, shit's going down and I'm dealing with it, more or less. I'm mostly just distracting myself, which is working for me at the moment. I'm sure it will quit....but I'm living the gospel of mmmmmmmmfuckit, for now, and I'm going to do so until it stops working.
I finished painting my bedroom over the weekend, which is unutterably awesome. It's the first time I've ever had a room without white or beige or pastel walls (they're orange and red and fabulous). I also read several books (I started the Sookie Stackhouse books...'cause for some reason I'm into vamps and werewolves lately - though not fucking Twilight thankyouverymuch) and watched half of Firefly (Malcolm Reynolds is good for my soul). I didn't drink myself into a stupor, though, so I count it a win.
I had planned to record some demo tracks over the weekend, in which endeavor I was thwarted by this random, unending, and mysterious beeping coming form the neighbor's apartment. This happens every now and then, the beeping, and it goes on and on and on...and I pretty much lose my mind trying to understand what the fuck it could be and why someone doesn't make it stop, for fuck's sake. This round, it lasted for hours, right during the time I had set aside for recording. So, not so much with the recording.
And hey, just to put it on your calendar, if it's not already there....I'm playing as part of an acoustic showcase at Silvie's on December 8th. I'll play some music (maybe even some holiday music?!), I'll drink some....a good time will be had by all. Including you, if you show up. Woo!
I finished painting my bedroom over the weekend, which is unutterably awesome. It's the first time I've ever had a room without white or beige or pastel walls (they're orange and red and fabulous). I also read several books (I started the Sookie Stackhouse books...'cause for some reason I'm into vamps and werewolves lately - though not fucking Twilight thankyouverymuch) and watched half of Firefly (Malcolm Reynolds is good for my soul). I didn't drink myself into a stupor, though, so I count it a win.
I had planned to record some demo tracks over the weekend, in which endeavor I was thwarted by this random, unending, and mysterious beeping coming form the neighbor's apartment. This happens every now and then, the beeping, and it goes on and on and on...and I pretty much lose my mind trying to understand what the fuck it could be and why someone doesn't make it stop, for fuck's sake. This round, it lasted for hours, right during the time I had set aside for recording. So, not so much with the recording.
And hey, just to put it on your calendar, if it's not already there....I'm playing as part of an acoustic showcase at Silvie's on December 8th. I'll play some music (maybe even some holiday music?!), I'll drink some....a good time will be had by all. Including you, if you show up. Woo!
10.28.2008
Save the date...
I'm playing Silvie's Lounge on December 8th. I know it's a Monday, but there will be liquor, so save the date anyway.
More dets as I have them.
More dets as I have them.
10.14.2008
XKCD nails it, as usual.
I would take it a step further, personally, and demand DRM-free files that aren't tied to a particular OS or device (attn: Sony and iTunes). Also, I heart xkcd.
Miscellany.
Mercury has been retrograde, and life has shifted accordingly. I have been introspective and not as social as usual; I have had enough mix-ups, surprises, hijinks, misunderstandings, miscommunications, and complications to last me for quite some time thankyouveryfuckingmuch; and the past has (as usual) returned to haunt me in typical ass-biting fashion. I know that there's a time for this kind of thing, for things to rewind, backfire, backpedal, and reshape....but sometimes I just don't like it. How come enlightenment can't be FUN??
Not that I'm enlightened.
Anyway, Mercury goes direct tomorrow (HALLELUJAH!), and life should get back to, er, normal. In the mantime, I have just a few things to share today:
* Saturday, I went with some friends to see the Dia de los Muertos exhibit at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen, here in Chicago. This is an annual exhibit that I've seen for the past few years, and it has yet to disappoint. The works run the gamut of political and personal, with some really startling and moving and intense stuff, all centered around the Mexican Day of the Dead traditions. Some of this is sculpture or painting or what I would call (for lack of a better term) more "typical" art-y works; others are amazing and gorgeous installations of ofrendas, altars built to honor Beloved Dead. The museum is easily reached via public transit, and admission is on a voluntary donation basis. I highly recommend this exhibit...and also, while you're there, check out the "Mexicanidad" exhibit down the hall from the Dia de los Muertos exhibit; it's a great tutorial on Mexican history and experience, and there are some of the most stunning and fascinating works of art I've ever seen in this collection.
* Sunday, my friend Jen and I saw the ass-kicking Girlyman, along with bonus awesome Ann Arbor duo Nervous but Excited. I stumbled onto Girlyman randomly on some blog or other, and was instantly hooked, and really overjoyed to find them playing soon in Chicago. They rock a plethora of styles, tremendous lyrics, interesting instrumentation, and (of course) super tasty vocal harmonies....if you dig the folk rock thing, I cannot recommend them highly enough - especially if you're also of a social justice bent. The opener, Nervous but Excited, was a delightful surprise (opening bands are always kind of a crapshoot, but these ladies rocked!)...really good songs, really good playing, really good singing, and some surprising twists that took the act from enjoyable to friggin' brilliant. Also, the banter for both acts was hilarious. Seriously, by the end of the night, my cheeks hurt from all the laughing. So, yeah, go and listen and buy and stuff.
* Yesterday was the start of Fat Talk Free Week (via Kate at Broadsheet). Can you even imagine a world sans trash talking your body or anyone else's? I sure would like to try it out! Also this week: Love Your Body Day on Wednesday.
* A week from this Sunday (on October 26th), there will be a Really, Really Free Market (organized by Bash Back! Chicago) from noon until 5 p.m. in the park just off the Division Blue Line stop. I'm going to be there, probably manning a clothes table or maybe doing some music or possibly reading palms or cards. I could use some help, so if you're interested in helping man a table, or reading for free/barter, please get in touch!
* Last thing: I'm going to be brushing up a set of holiday music (either Sacred or not or both, depending on venue); if you or anyone you know is in the market for some acoustic-guitar-and-singer ambient holiday music for a party or whatever this holiday season....I know this chick that might be able to help.
Not that I'm enlightened.
Anyway, Mercury goes direct tomorrow (HALLELUJAH!), and life should get back to, er, normal. In the mantime, I have just a few things to share today:
* Saturday, I went with some friends to see the Dia de los Muertos exhibit at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen, here in Chicago. This is an annual exhibit that I've seen for the past few years, and it has yet to disappoint. The works run the gamut of political and personal, with some really startling and moving and intense stuff, all centered around the Mexican Day of the Dead traditions. Some of this is sculpture or painting or what I would call (for lack of a better term) more "typical" art-y works; others are amazing and gorgeous installations of ofrendas, altars built to honor Beloved Dead. The museum is easily reached via public transit, and admission is on a voluntary donation basis. I highly recommend this exhibit...and also, while you're there, check out the "Mexicanidad" exhibit down the hall from the Dia de los Muertos exhibit; it's a great tutorial on Mexican history and experience, and there are some of the most stunning and fascinating works of art I've ever seen in this collection.
* Sunday, my friend Jen and I saw the ass-kicking Girlyman, along with bonus awesome Ann Arbor duo Nervous but Excited. I stumbled onto Girlyman randomly on some blog or other, and was instantly hooked, and really overjoyed to find them playing soon in Chicago. They rock a plethora of styles, tremendous lyrics, interesting instrumentation, and (of course) super tasty vocal harmonies....if you dig the folk rock thing, I cannot recommend them highly enough - especially if you're also of a social justice bent. The opener, Nervous but Excited, was a delightful surprise (opening bands are always kind of a crapshoot, but these ladies rocked!)...really good songs, really good playing, really good singing, and some surprising twists that took the act from enjoyable to friggin' brilliant. Also, the banter for both acts was hilarious. Seriously, by the end of the night, my cheeks hurt from all the laughing. So, yeah, go and listen and buy and stuff.
* Yesterday was the start of Fat Talk Free Week (via Kate at Broadsheet). Can you even imagine a world sans trash talking your body or anyone else's? I sure would like to try it out! Also this week: Love Your Body Day on Wednesday.
* A week from this Sunday (on October 26th), there will be a Really, Really Free Market (organized by Bash Back! Chicago) from noon until 5 p.m. in the park just off the Division Blue Line stop. I'm going to be there, probably manning a clothes table or maybe doing some music or possibly reading palms or cards. I could use some help, so if you're interested in helping man a table, or reading for free/barter, please get in touch!
* Last thing: I'm going to be brushing up a set of holiday music (either Sacred or not or both, depending on venue); if you or anyone you know is in the market for some acoustic-guitar-and-singer ambient holiday music for a party or whatever this holiday season....I know this chick that might be able to help.
9.22.2008
Good things.
My sinuses have rebelled, and I am extracting snot by the bucketful out of my head. I am surrounded by the oh-so-sexy smell of monthol, and my nose could light the way for Santa. Also, apparently I'm glassy-eyed and pasty white (or more so than usual).
In short, I'm sickly, and so today I am writing about good things. I could use the reminder.
First off, I am going to see Girlyman next month. If you're not a fan of them already, and you dig awesome harmonies and alt-folk with bluegrass flavors and tasty lyrics - you should totally check out their stuff. (They're playing Schubas on October 12, in case you're interested.)
Next good thing on my list:
I love someecards!
Moving right along....I love the CTA. I know it's imperfect - I know it's inconsistent and always bogged down with some construction project or other - I know it's blatantly classist and racist, in terms of access and service and cleanliness. But, for all of that, it lets me live car free, and for that it has my love, much like mass transit the world over. (Or, in my case, the country over:)
Next good thing on my list? Tonight is the season premiere of Heroes! I'm not normally a schedule-my-life-around-TV kinda girl, but since I'm sickly anyway, plopping my hiney in front of the tube seems a reasonable way to spend my evening. Woo hoo!
And today's special good thing? A new "Target: Women" from the ass-kicking Sarah Haskins!
In short, I'm sickly, and so today I am writing about good things. I could use the reminder.
First off, I am going to see Girlyman next month. If you're not a fan of them already, and you dig awesome harmonies and alt-folk with bluegrass flavors and tasty lyrics - you should totally check out their stuff. (They're playing Schubas on October 12, in case you're interested.)
Next good thing on my list:
Moving right along....I love the CTA. I know it's imperfect - I know it's inconsistent and always bogged down with some construction project or other - I know it's blatantly classist and racist, in terms of access and service and cleanliness. But, for all of that, it lets me live car free, and for that it has my love, much like mass transit the world over. (Or, in my case, the country over:)
Next good thing on my list? Tonight is the season premiere of Heroes! I'm not normally a schedule-my-life-around-TV kinda girl, but since I'm sickly anyway, plopping my hiney in front of the tube seems a reasonable way to spend my evening. Woo hoo!
And today's special good thing? A new "Target: Women" from the ass-kicking Sarah Haskins!
9.14.2008
Water, water everywhere...
This weekend has been an exercise in paradox - awesome and fabulous things have come my way...while I've also been thrust into the Land of Suck. Good times.
Friday, I treated myself to my favorite Lush treat (a jasmine body wash that I use, Euro-style, for shampoo), stopped to grab a new book I've been waiting for, met up with my roomie to hit a music shop and grab guitar supplies, had tasty vegetarian dinner at Lake Side Cafe (oh my gods, brown rice, chili, cornbread, cheese, and tomatoes....mmmmm), then walked in the rain to buy a doumbek, which I instantly tuned up and played before going to bed.
So, yeah, Friday night was awesome.
Saturday started well, too. I went to a going away brunch (sadly, at Heartland Cafe, whose food never ceases to amaze in its just plain bad-ness), and then decided I would try to brave the rain in order to ogle men in kilts and drink Guinness and get weepy over Uilleann pipe music (in which endeavor I was joined by a friend). When we got downtown, the rains were a-coming down, and well...I love kilts, but spending an afternoon soaking wet, waiting in lines, standing around in humidity and with my arm getting tired holding up an umbrella....yeah, just not worth it. So we went and got tattoos instead.
This tattoo is one I've been sitting on for years, just waiting for a moment when I had the money, the time, and the intestinal fortitude to stop being such a chicken shit and just get it done. It has spiritual connotations that are complicated and totally woo woo, but besides that, it just totally looks bad ass. Even if it means people will think I'm a hairdresser.
Which, to be fair, I kinda am. I mean, I do *my* hair. That counts, right?
Anyway, so, we got tattoos and had lunch, and then I came home to the reality of record-breaking rainfall: I'm living in a garden level bedroom, and it has some, er, seepage. Not enough to really call it flooded, but there's definitely going to be some repercussions in terms of property damage. Le sigh.
So, today, I've been alternating trying to get the regular housecleaning I do on Sundays done, and sorting through my stuff and doing laundry and recovering stuff and tossing stuff and yada yada yada. I'm tired, and I'm sore, and I'm taking tomorrow off work to continue with the recovery effort.
As much as it sucks, I am keeping it in perspective. I still have a home, and yeah, I might need a new dresser and nightstand and maybe box spring, but I got off lucky, what with all the hurricanes and typhoons and earthquakes and civil unrest and starvation and all the other horrors of the world. I'm damn lucky.
But I do long for the moment when my bedroom stops smelling like mildew. Ugh.
Friday, I treated myself to my favorite Lush treat (a jasmine body wash that I use, Euro-style, for shampoo), stopped to grab a new book I've been waiting for, met up with my roomie to hit a music shop and grab guitar supplies, had tasty vegetarian dinner at Lake Side Cafe (oh my gods, brown rice, chili, cornbread, cheese, and tomatoes....mmmmm), then walked in the rain to buy a doumbek, which I instantly tuned up and played before going to bed.
So, yeah, Friday night was awesome.
Saturday started well, too. I went to a going away brunch (sadly, at Heartland Cafe, whose food never ceases to amaze in its just plain bad-ness), and then decided I would try to brave the rain in order to ogle men in kilts and drink Guinness and get weepy over Uilleann pipe music (in which endeavor I was joined by a friend). When we got downtown, the rains were a-coming down, and well...I love kilts, but spending an afternoon soaking wet, waiting in lines, standing around in humidity and with my arm getting tired holding up an umbrella....yeah, just not worth it. So we went and got tattoos instead.
This tattoo is one I've been sitting on for years, just waiting for a moment when I had the money, the time, and the intestinal fortitude to stop being such a chicken shit and just get it done. It has spiritual connotations that are complicated and totally woo woo, but besides that, it just totally looks bad ass. Even if it means people will think I'm a hairdresser.
Which, to be fair, I kinda am. I mean, I do *my* hair. That counts, right?
Anyway, so, we got tattoos and had lunch, and then I came home to the reality of record-breaking rainfall: I'm living in a garden level bedroom, and it has some, er, seepage. Not enough to really call it flooded, but there's definitely going to be some repercussions in terms of property damage. Le sigh.
So, today, I've been alternating trying to get the regular housecleaning I do on Sundays done, and sorting through my stuff and doing laundry and recovering stuff and tossing stuff and yada yada yada. I'm tired, and I'm sore, and I'm taking tomorrow off work to continue with the recovery effort.
As much as it sucks, I am keeping it in perspective. I still have a home, and yeah, I might need a new dresser and nightstand and maybe box spring, but I got off lucky, what with all the hurricanes and typhoons and earthquakes and civil unrest and starvation and all the other horrors of the world. I'm damn lucky.
But I do long for the moment when my bedroom stops smelling like mildew. Ugh.
8.28.2008
DDPP!
Let's say you're a woman, and you have a yen to go shake your booty for a couple hours at a club. Let's say you aren't in it for the showing off of your cute club wear, or for the inevitable folks that would likely invade your dance space, or for the challenge of simultaneously drinking your weight in shots and not puking while bouncing around like a crack-addled jumping bean. Let's say you just wanted to dance, and dance, and dance some more.
If you're a woman (and, hell, maybe if you're a guy, too, though I can only speak from my own experience here), there aren't very many clubs where you can manage to just dance, without fending off ass grabs and stumbling home with spilled-beer-covered cute club wear. Or at least, that's been true until now: now, there's Dance Dance Party Party!!
I went to DDPP Chicago for the first time last night, and I had a hella good time. It was unbelievably awesome: 90 minutes of quality booty-shaking, with "no booze, no boys, no judgments" to boot! I haven't had that much dance-based sober fun in yeeeears. I mean, not since my old roomie Sue and I used to have '80s Dance Night in her studio in Atlanta (which involved quality New Wave tunage from her record collection, and the two of us seeing who could concoct the most ridiculous '80s-esque dance move...preferably involving some kind of homage to one of the Jacksons). I'll be back, for sure...and I'll be working on mentally assembling my own ass-kicking mix of dance-tastic tunage (participants can be volunteer DJs via Ye Olde MP3 Player Mixes!).
If there's a DDPP near you, and you're a chick (sorry, dudes, woman-only space), I highly recommend checking it out.
If you're a woman (and, hell, maybe if you're a guy, too, though I can only speak from my own experience here), there aren't very many clubs where you can manage to just dance, without fending off ass grabs and stumbling home with spilled-beer-covered cute club wear. Or at least, that's been true until now: now, there's Dance Dance Party Party!!
I went to DDPP Chicago for the first time last night, and I had a hella good time. It was unbelievably awesome: 90 minutes of quality booty-shaking, with "no booze, no boys, no judgments" to boot! I haven't had that much dance-based sober fun in yeeeears. I mean, not since my old roomie Sue and I used to have '80s Dance Night in her studio in Atlanta (which involved quality New Wave tunage from her record collection, and the two of us seeing who could concoct the most ridiculous '80s-esque dance move...preferably involving some kind of homage to one of the Jacksons). I'll be back, for sure...and I'll be working on mentally assembling my own ass-kicking mix of dance-tastic tunage (participants can be volunteer DJs via Ye Olde MP3 Player Mixes!).
If there's a DDPP near you, and you're a chick (sorry, dudes, woman-only space), I highly recommend checking it out.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
